The Camera, Dispatching The Colonial Weapon
Through the lens of Benjamin Soedira
Benjamin Soedira is an artist who works predominantly with the photographic medium to explore ideas of belonging and foreignness, both coinciding with one another to create the idea of home and familiarity. Born and raised in Dubai, Soedira is currently based in Glasgow. His latest and ongoing project entitled ‘Jongen’ explores a family history entangled in repression and landscape. Travelling through Indonesia to West Papua, the birthplace of Soedira’s father to reunite with his family, along with understanding an identity so little is known about. ‘Jongen’ draws on themes such as colonial history, familiarity, cultural heritage and identity.
Words by Benjamin Soedira
Untitled (Tea Plantation Field) Mount Malabar, Indonesia 2022 Benjamin Soedira
The words, ‘shoot, capture and take’ are often associated with acts of violence and power. For quite some time the language within photography has been intertwined with its colonial and exploitative past. The camera is an artistic tool for many and yet has a history of exploitation. With its militant language, usage for comparison of people and their skin tones. Photography has a history of dehumanising individuals and their cultures. Anthropologists, journalists and scientists have used this tool throughout history to ‘understand their subjects’, a phrase thrown around all too lightly. So how is it that I and many other photographers continue to use this tool, and more so in a way that we can explore those once very dehumanising and exploitative tones?
It’s the end of the year, I am in Jakarta standing outside one of the many Dutch colonial buildings that occupy the city. Camera in hand, eye down the viewfinder and trying to grasp what it would have been like during the Dutch colonial years. I’m in the first week of a trip through Indonesia to what will eventually end in West Papua. My work with the camera has always been to explore identity and what one would consider home. The camera has been my go-to, my choice of visual expression. Yet its history and function are rooted in exploitation and manipulation. Over the years I have ‘dispatched’ this weapon. Repurposing it, using its flaws and dark past to unravel and explore the very things it was once used for. That’s not to say it has been enjoyable or necessarily smooth sailing. My struggle with the camera is a common occurrence.
“Should I take this photo?”
These words ring through my head as I navigate my way down one of Jakarta’s many winding streets. Even the act of lifting my camera can feel violent at times. Glances and stares make me aware that I have a camera hanging off my shoulder, much like a soldier and their rifle aimlessly walking till something happens.
Untitled (Colonial Building & Hedgerow) Bandung, Indonesia 2022 Benjamin Soedira
Untitled (Painted Tulips On Dutch Colonial Building) Jakarta, Indonesia 2022 Benjamin Soedira
The camera has taught me to be more considerate, it is the only medium that demands decisive present-moment decisions. Whilst juggling with the cameras past in hand, along with my pursuit of creating a body of work that explores those very themes. The camera's past can and should be acknowledged whilst also using its flaws to discover the very thing it once exploited. My time with the camera has brought up questions, hard questions. Does this need to be talked about? Are you the right person for it? And most of all, How is this going to be received? With those questions looming over me as I try and navigate my own identity and journey. Dispatching the weapon of the camera and reappropriating it as a tool for progressive discussion is one that will take time.
Untitled (Dutch Bike In Indonesia) Yogyakarta, Indonesia 2022 Benjamin Soedira
Untitled (Colonial Building In Rearview) Bandung, Indonesia 2022 Benjamin Soedira
Benjamin Soedira @bensoedira