Indonesia, where the Lion Barong fights Rangda, Queen of Witches by Werner Forman

Feb. 18, 2016 - PRLog -- Werner Forman visited 48 countries in his eight-decades-long photographic career. He was fascinated by different cultures, and Indonesia is a nexus between East and West. Over fourteen thousand islands make up the country, and it has been influenced by many cultures. The Javanese are the largest ethnic group. In the past Hinduism and Buddhism flourished, and overlaid onto that is Islam, which arrived there as early as the 13^th century, gradually becoming the majority religion in the country.

By the 16^th century, European traders were coming East by sea, searching for the fabled riches of the “spice islands”. Spanish, Portugese, Dutch and English traders brought Christianity with them, which now makes up around 10% of the population. Because of its geographic diversity as well as its influences, Indonesia is a fascinating place, replete with different foods, styles of architecture, music and dance.

One of the more amazing stories about Indonesia, which was a source of conflict between the English and Dutch for many years, over the spices such as nutmeg which were highly prized during the 1600s, is that eventually a peace treaty was negotiated in 1654 where the English demanded reparations for islands they had “lost”. Although this was supposed to bring peace between the two nations, further conflict broke out. In revenge an English expeditionary force crossed the Atlantic to seize the island of New Amsterdam, which is now called Manhattan. In 1667, both sides were worn out by perpetual conflict, which had lasted over 60 years. The Treaty of Breda was signed: each side got to keep the islands they had captured. So the Dutch got the tiny spice island of Run in Indonesia, and Britain got what developed into one of the richest places on Earth: New York.

Indonesia is famous for its textiles, the most famous of which is Batik. Werner Forman photographed many different Batik and Ikat designs on his visits, including both ancient works of art, and modern designs being hand-crafted by women using simple, traditional methods.

During his travels Werner photographed many ceremonies, with local people wearing amazing costumes and jewellery, as part of an elaborate calendar of festivals. Balinese people regularly stage performances where Barong, a mythical lion representing good, fights Rangda, Queen of Witches, a personalisation of evil.

He also visited the ancient shrine of Borobudur. This is a 9^th century Buddhist temple, which was abandoned and lost in the jungle till 1814, when British Governor Stamford Raffles, who took a keen interest in Indonesian history heard rumours of the overgrown building, and dispatched H.C. Cornelius, a Dutch engineer to dig it out. This was the start of the reclamation of an amazing edifice which is the largest Buddhist temple in the world, which is now a UNESCO World Heritage site, and the most-visited tourist attraction in the country.

Werner Forman's images of Indonesia have been featured in numerous books including Bali, the Split Gate to Heaven, Borobudur: the Buddhist legend in stone, Indonesian Batik and Ikat, Textile Art-threads of Continuity.

Werner Forman Archive holds these images, and thousands more top-quality pictures of ancient art, architecture, culture, landscape and people of the world.

All images copyright Werner Forman Archive.

www.werner-forman-archive.com