Can’t See the Florist for the Flowers
Solo, Java, Indonesia, July 2019
Photography for me was at first purely a means to an end. I enjoy playing in the garden but cannot read seed packets. I began taking photos of the seed packets so that I could view them on a computer screen enabling me to zoom in on and read the text. From there I started taking photographs of the plants themselves as a way to check the health and ripeness of my vegetables and to enjoy the details of flowers.
Like the seeds themselves, my passion for photography has grown and has become my way to see and experience the world. I still enjoy photographing my garden, it is my way of capturing life, my way to find the gorgeous blooms amongst the weeds and manure but more and more I love capturing and experiencing the life of people and daily activities in the big, wide world. When the two can meet I’m in photography heaven
The Javanese also share this love of flowers and floral arrangements. Flowers are an integral part of many social and cultural ceremonies. They add colour to these festivities and are seen as promoting insight and motivation. They are used not only as decorations but also as offerings and symbolic gestures. Flowers are seen as a celebration of life. They are of course also used in the home as a way of brightening daily life.
With such a large population a large florist industry has grown throughout Java. Florists can often be seen flowing out onto city footpaths with their scents filling the air and colours catching eyes. These colours of course catch my eye and while I can’t see the intricate detail of the blooms nor identify the genus I can still revel in the colour and beauty.
The bright yellows and oranges of these flowers caught my eye immediately as we walked the streets of Solo in east Java and without much thought I quickly found myself clicking the camera to try and catch the beauty so that I could explore it better on a computer screen much like my exploration of seed packets. I couldn’t see the people at the time of clicking but I could hear them. “Yes! Photo, photo!” I heard a female voice excitedly say. I smiled knowing she was smiling and my camera smiled as well.
When I looked at the image on my computer I found myself smiling again, not only were there more flowers ad more colours than I had originally seen but there were more people too. The men busy, too involved in their work to worry about me and that female voice I originally heard had turned into an actual, physical person. I love the fact that the men have their faces covered while the female’s smile beams loudly, like her laugh, for all to see. It is her laugh I heard and her smile I can now see via photography. While the men’s’ face covering are due to health and safety rather than cultural or religious ideals this photograph shows that many stereotypes of Muslim women and practices are completely wrong. Women aren’t hidden away in Indonesia; they are vibrant and participatory agents in life, beaming beauty and offering motivation much like the flowers themselves.
