MIMAGE
LONESOME
When I visited a village surrounded by hills on the slopes of Mount Lawu located in the village of Jatiyoso, Karanganyar, Central Java, the atmosphere was cool and a bit foggy. There, I took a stop at an old friend's house. Entering his house, it felt very quiet. The things are so neat as if they have never been touched, and as if only emptiness that I felt. He told me that his parents migrated to other region.
Located in the highlands and far from the urban center, it seems to "migrate" to be like a culture passed down from generation to generation in this village, the people of this area prefer to earn a living and work outside the city, such as Banten and Jakarta and some even get out of Java islands such as migrate to Sumatra, Kalimantan and Papua. Economic factors are often the reason for looking for income to other areas far from their places of origin, this answer that I got from the majority of the village community is immigrants.
On the other hand, I also met the children in this village who lived with their surrogate parents such as grandparents or other relatives, because they were left to migrate their parents for the economic welfare of the family. Do not know how long they will stay in the land of the region they migrate, most of the immigrants say "If I get tiredness and old, I will settle back home". But with a sense of full responsibility and affection, they (the immigrants) will return in a few months to release their homesickness, even though they eventually return to the region they migrate. That condition reminds me of my childhood, where I lived in the village with my grandparents without my parents,"
This project is my way of showing a sense of being them, it feels far from parents, and it's like being raised by surrogate parents. Remembering the family is a bond that has a special nature in the form of a bond that will never be separated and broken even though distance and time apart. Although the love and affection of these parents can be felt by a child through a great distance, the wait and hope is something that is felt by a child who wants to live and live side by side with their parents.
Each series is filled with the moments that I catch while living with the children who are left migrating their parents and living together with their surrogate parents.
Village of Jatiyoso, Karanganyar, Central Java, Indonesia
Candra Ardiansyah (10) has been left migrating since the age of 3 years, Candra did not go migrate because her parents had to accompany her grandmother at home.
Village of Jatiyoso, Karanganyar, Central Java, Indonesia