Merauke, South Papua, Indonesia. 2022. The acacia plantation is part of a state program called the Merauke Integrated Food and Energy Estate (MIFEE), a massive food industry that has transformed 1.2 million hectares of natural forest. The project began in 2010, promising to improve the welfare of the region’s indigenous Papuans but instead deprived them of their food source. In recent years, children in the area have suffered from malnutrition. More
Mimika, Papua, Indonesia. 2018. Amatus, 43, from Kamoro tribe, one of the tribe in coastal area with accessories made from the packages of instant noodle for necklace, head accessories, and tawri.
Tawri is skirt made from sago leaves. The necklace and other accessories are usually made from sago leaves or banana leaves – the indigenous’s food resources. Amatus modified his accessories.
The practice of implementing government programs is more often manifested by distributing cash into the community. This practice is considered more practical and useful for the community although actually, it is a kind of strategy to get an opportunity for corruption – while many programs from central government are mostly with abundant budget. This situation provides most Kamoro people with cash availability which encourages people to shop and consume manufactured goods. Simultaneously, the expansion of factory goods comes in through traders. All the traders in this area are settlers. Nowadays, people in this village area prefer instant noodle than sago and banana from the forest. “You do not need to gather from the forest if you want to eat,” said Amatus.
The distance from Amatus village to city is about 8 hours by a 40PK engine-powered boat through the Arafura Sea. It is actually closer and cheaper to access sago and banana in the forest than instant noodles. More
Merauke, Papua, Indonesia. 2019. A number of indigenous Papuans told about birds that were confused about finding trees for shelter. Some saw birds tired of flying. How large is the scale of deforestation that birds have difficulty finding shelter. More
Jakarta, Indonesia. 2019. Wenebita Gwijangge, one of the students who was arrested August 30, 2019 after a demonstration demanding the investigation of perpetrators of racism cases in Surabaya. She was imprisoned for 9 months.
When this portrait was made (2019), Wenebita smeared her face with mud as a symbol of sadness. She had lost contact with her family for more than a month. The military operation in early December 2018 forced her family to flee to the forest and other districts. Refugees in Nduga have now not returned to their villages until now, because the security forces are still in there. More
Mimika, Papua, Indonesia. 2017. The Otomona river was named by the Kamoro people, a group of around 13,000 Pacific islanders living along the south coast of Papua, Indonesia. The Kamoro relied on the river for fish, transportation, and the riverbanks were lined by sago forests, a staple food for the people. Today, this river is known locally as Kali Kabur meaning ‘blurry’, refers to the flow of the water river because of the tailings disposal from gold mining company. More
Boven Digul, Papua, Indonesia. 2019. Angelina Ketang, 29, after the forest belonging to her clan, turned into an oil palm plantation, she worked as a laborer in an oil palm company. Her husband's salary who works for the same company is not enough to support their family. More
Paniai, Papua, Indonesia. 2017. Mee people are preparing for 'roasting stone' (bakar batu). The ‘roasting stone’ ritual is held when the tribes welcome important guests to their villages, engage in a collective prayer before some major work or celebrate a birth or wedding. It can also accompany the inauguration of a village head. More
Mimika, Papua, Indonesia. 2017. In 1967, the opening of a gold mining company gave the indigenous people job hope. Currently, the company states that 25% of its employees are from indigenous peoples but many have not been able to find work because the company requires its workers to complete high school. In fact, many indigenous people work as illegal miners, looking for gold in the tailings disposal stream. More
Merauke, Papua, Indonesia. 2019. Kitchen roofs in the past of the Marind people were made from sago leaves. Since the forest was taken over by oil palm plantations, the roofs have been replaced with tarpaulins. More
Jayawijaya, Papua, Indonesia. 2016. Wall painting in the house of Papuan and pictures of bachelor graduation. For Papuan, graduated from university is a pride. Social status change, not primitive anymore and can be elite like non Papuan settlers. More
Jayawijaya, Papua, Indonesia. 2019. Dana (sitting), 22 years old, a refugee from Nduga who was separated from her husband when she fled to the forest. Two of her children died while fleeing. July 2019, Dana died due to the prolonged grief of losing 2 children and never seeing her husband. More
Jayapura, Papua, Indonesia. 2017. Brother Jan Sjerp OFM: One of the three remaining Dutch Catholic priests to have worked in Papua. He died February 13, 2021, at the age 82 years. Jan is a pioneering who develops coffee cultivation in the central mountains of Papua. More