Fresh to Death: Indonesia

The idea of 'fresh to death' originally came to fruition during Peace Corps pre-service training. The culture, the sounds, the style, the food, the people, the patterns, the smells -- all wildly unique to Indonesia, stimulating every sense, embedding strong impressions in my memory; aspects of life that I had never experienced during my previous times abroad. Throughout the duration of my service, F2D has developed into something more. The idea is still the same. I still work hard to observe, absorb, and reflect upon what I do see, but my focus has changed. It's less about the foreignness and irony (because that's worn off). I wanted a place where I could convey the real Indonesia through photography but then I realized, I don't really know what the real Indonesia is. It's certainly one of the most diverse countries in the world. How much of East Java do I even understand? It's hard to tell.

I'll give you what I do know: how to honestly capture the people I meet and the places I go. My life in the village. Being raw. Being sensitive and humorous at the same time. From these photos, I hope to evoke similar senses that I once felt during those moments for others following this project.

ABOUT Ask me anything

October 6, 2011

It makes me very happy when Peace Corps reblogs my photos!

peacecorps:

The children in my village have taken me in at their big sister, calling me “kakak” rather than my actual name. It’s heart-warming. They love to take me to the sugarcane fields that surround our village. They run with knifes, and it makes me nervous, but it’s the norm here. Children run free here. I love this photograph because I actually let Sylvie, a 9-year old with very sticky fingers from the sugarcane juices, use my Canon SLR to take this. Whenever she sees this photo, she proudly says “aku aku” or “mine mine”.

Peace Corps Education Volunteer Elle Chang

10:54am | URL: http://tmblr.co/ZPGSRxAKut8b

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