ALHAMDULILLAH WE MADE IT
Ruang MES 56
‘Alhamdulillah We Made It’ is a collective project resulted from a collaboration between Ruang MES 56 and the Jesuit Refugee Service (JRS) Yogyakarta. We noticed the importance to start realizing that the refugee issue is no longer only a bilateral issue between the home country of the refugees and the country of destination. It is a global concern where the involvement of third and fourth parties such as the UN, transit countries and NGOs has contributed to the current situation of this issue.
As a stated located in the periphery of Southeast Asia, Indonesia has been an active transit state for refugees. Over the years, refugees from the middle eastern countries were brought to refugee shelters in some cities in Java before they could finally find asylum. Departing from this phenomenon, Ruang MES 56 as an art collective with photography as the medium would like to discuss the refugee issue through another point of view. Rather viewing this issue from the political aspect, we are more interested on the humanity side. One of the triggers which led us to this issue was when we found several anti-refugee posters on the walls inside some restaurants in Yogyakarta. We realize that this issue is very close to our daily life.
In this project, we conducted two kinds of approach which reflected on the output of the work. Firstly, we focused on the refugee issue in Indonesia as the main topic for a photography work. we did an observation of the realities and daily life of refugees in Yogyakarta. We went through how they live, their dreams and hopes, as well as how their existence in the city is not widely recognized, and rarely discussed.
Secondly, we interacted and collaborated with the refugees. The interactions and collaboration are wrapped in form of photography related workshops and introduction to the art scene of Yogyakarta. This is as a form of capacity building contribution that we, as artists were able to offer.
