Last month, we were featured in Urbanesia, a prominent Jakarta website on urban lifestyle. The writer was none other than the awesome travel blogger, Ananda Rasulia. Since it was written in Bahasa Indonesia and some of our friends have requested to have it in English, so we translated the article here.
The original article can be read here:
Supper Snapshots: Menikmati Makanan dari Sudut Berbeda
And here is the English version:
Supper Snapshots: Enjoying Food from a Different Angle
One can not look only once, or briefly, at the works of Oxalis and Maarten - modestly hung on a piece of wall. Simple, but meaningful. They can be very sophisticated and make the viewer’s mind spin, as one tries to find the inspiration behind the food photo before it changes its shape, that might be beyond expectation. It was exciting, and slowly Oxalis and Maarten have taken their works to several venues in Bandung, Surabaya, Yogyakarta, Bali, and of course Jakarta. Here is the full story.
What is Supper Snapshots?
Supper Snapshots is a photoblog project where we take pictures of food every day. The photos we took were uploaded to the blog and they showed two different points of view, because we are from different backgrounds, especially in terms of culture (I am from Indonesia, Maarten from the Netherlands). We also always tried to take a different image for each photo, so we explored a variety of concepts and technical aspects, both in the fields of photography and gastronomy.
When did it start and how did you get the idea to initiate it?
It was started in 2009, inspired by a newsletter in Photojojo (blog of contemporary photography), which featured photoblog projects of two friends who both uploaded their photos to their blogs every day. I contacted Maarten to collaborate and we decided to use a specific theme: food. This was inspired by the fact that we liked to cook and eat together. The photoblog ran for two years (2009-2011) and resulted in 1,468 photos. In 2012 we started to curate and show our works.
Who are the people behind Supper Snapshots and what are their roles?
The Supper Snapshots project was done by two people - me and Maarten. Since our first exhibition in Bandung we were helped by some friends, in particular Ezra Saraswati (Titing) for design, Tirta Kusuma for documentation, Ricky Adrian as a visual director, and Farah Mauludynna for publication. Later, after discussing with Arris to exhibit at That's Life Coffee, we began to collaborate with Studiomili, an illustrator duo consisting of Arris Aprillo and Mohamad Reza.
What is the concept of Supper Snapshots?
Our concept is a cross-cultural experiment of a culinary journey. We have always believed that everyone is unique and has a different background (culture, eating habits, experience), so we hope we can show those differences in an interesting artwork through the medium of photography. In addition, food is not just nutrition for us, it is what makes us. Food is our identity.
Would you tell us about the journey of Supper Snapshots exhibitions?
Our first exhibition was held at Common Room, Bandung, two years ago (17-31 March 2012). Then I was invited to be a speaker at TEDxITT, a TEDx event at Telkom Institute of Technology (now Telkom University) two months later. We also had a small exhibition during that event. In February 2013 we had an exhibition at That's Life Coffee, Jakarta, where we started to feature our collaborative works with Studiomili. After Jakarta, we had an exhibition at c2o library and collabtive in Surabaya. Last December we were exhibiting at Mangsi Coffee, Denpasar, and at the moment our exhibition is still running at Lir Space, Yogyakarta.
Which was the most exciting?
Perhaps it was the one at Common Room (Bandung). Not only because it was our first exhibition, but the venue was perfect for an exhibition. I used to go to Common Room quite often when I was still in college and I always wanted to have an exhibition there. Moreover, thanks to that exhibition we started to open a new network and our exhibition was featured in Koran Tempo. But in general we are very happy with our exhibitions, also the one at That's Life Coffee because that was when we started our collaboration with Studiomili and I could just come to the cafe anytime because it was in my own city.
How to arrange mini exhibitions like Supper Snapshots? What steps should be taken?
First is to find an exhibition venue, and then the time and duration. When both have been determined, we can start planning like printing, arranging equipment to display the artworks (eg. frames), human resources, and funding. For our exhibitions in Jakarta and Surabaya, we raised donation through crowdfunding. We asked for donations from friends or anyone who was interested in our exhibitions and in return we gave some Supper Snapshots products (in the form of photographs, postcards, recipe books, etc). Additionally, we also need to have a good network, for promotion or looking for a venue.
What is the goal of Supper Snapshots?
We want to show how the fusion of photography and gastronomy can be an identity that shows cultural background. We also wanted to show the other side of culinary photography, that food as a mediocre object that we see every day can turn into something interesting and surprising when seen from different perspectives.
Finally, do you have any tips for other artists who want to have exhibitions like Supper Snapshots?
Expand your network and keep creating!
