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O'Kane Gallery

Upcoming Exhibition

Anton Guatama: Light Persists
Selected works between 2015 - 2020

February 29 - April 4, 2024
Reception: Feb 29, 5 p.m. - 7 p.m.

2 from the Series The Outsider
Exterior of a building lit at night

 

As part of the FotoFest Biennial 2024, The O’Kane Gallery is proud to announce a selection of photographs by Indonesian artist Anton Gautama (1969-2021).  In 2015, Gautama began three series of photographs documenting cultural aspects of his place of residence, Surabaya, Indonesia.  Pabean Passage, Home Sweet Home and The Outsider were published as individual volumes recognizing each series in the trilogy.  Gautama unexpectedly died in 2021 before the publication of his final book, The Outsider.  Gautama is quoted on Singapore base publisher DECK’s website:  

"The Outsider is the last part of my trilogy project. I have previously published two books: Pabean Passage and Home Sweet Home. Pabean Passage tells about a century-old market in Surabaya, a place that was very memorable during my childhood. Home Sweet Home features Chinese-Indonesian home interiors in Makassar and Surabaya – where I was born and raised. The Outsider, this book, offers a view towards my life as an adult and the result of my lifelong rumination on life." 

This exhibition at the O’Kane Gallery contains photographs from each of the three volumes, with an emphasis on Gautama’s final project, The Outsider, documenting a three-hundred-year-old Dutch Colonial building in Surabaya, Indonesia.  The dilapidated building became a landing place and refuge for Chinese Indonesians in the 1940s following social unrest.  Known as “Satan House” for its proximity to a cemetery and its menacing appearance, the building continues to house an ethnic mix of Indonesians surviving and resilient despite unfortunate circumstances. 

Antona Gautama was born in 1969 in Indonesia and made his home in Surabaya.  His photographs have been included in LensCulture and National Geographic Travel. His exhibitions include works at the Goethe Institute in Jakarta, XX Encuentros Abiertos Fesstival de La Luz in Buenos Aires, Brazil, Ballaarat International Foto Biennia in Victoria, Australia, the Oregon Center for the Photographic Arts in Portland, Oregon, and previously at FotoFest in Houston.