HOME

Our earliest memories of home are often connected to our childhood. Home is a way of organizing and understanding the space within ourselves and the way the world is constructed around us. For our ancestors, home was no more than a small fire and something to protect us from the elements of wind and rain. Somewhere between then and now, the notion of home has become far more interpretational and embedded in the human consciousness. As we began to advance in agriculture, we nested and became less nomadic. The personal quality of home provides a place to experience our inner being and also allows for the temporary detachment from our public character. It is also subject to our aspirations, beliefs and historical experiences. This series I took along my long period photo project titled HOME when I started traveling to China since 2006. Beside China (the mainland), I also visited houses of the Chinese born Indonesian mostly in China towns in every cities in Indonesia. China is one of the Four Ancient Civilizations (alongside Babylon, India and Egypt), according to Chinese scholar Liang Qichao (1900). It boasts a vast and varied geographic expanse, 3,600 years of written history, as well as a rich and profound culture. Home photo story describes the Chinese cultures through their houses, the inner space. We could see the strong identity of beliefs and the philosophy through Chinese architecture, caligraphy, symbols, pictures and things. Taoism, Confusianism, Buddhism and Christianity, all coloring this biggest entity on earth. Beside of it, of course we could see the modern and the pop culture absorbed in their lifestyles.