YOGYAKARTA, June 12, 2026 — Students from the Photography Program, Faculty of Media Arts, Indonesian Institute of the Arts (ISI) Yogyakarta, are presenting photographic works that highlight community resilience in the face of environmental issues through the Sewon Photography Week (PFS) #19, titled Prime Time.
This exhibition serves as a presentation space for the final projects of 32 Photography students from ISI Yogyakarta. Through the medium of photography, the students not only showcase visual strength but also offer critical readings of social, environmental, and humanitarian issues present in society.
A number of works on display show how communities strive to protect their living spaces, from enduring coastal abrasion, developing rainwater harvesting practices as an alternative water source, to maintaining natural balance through ancestral systems passed down through generations.
One of the works that addresses environmental issues is the Documentary Photo of Environmental Crisis and Community Resilience Due to Abrasion in Kampung Beting, Pantai Bahagia Village, Bekasi Regency by Rahid Putra Laksana. For one year, Rahid documented the lives of the Kampung Beting community who continue to adapt to the abrasion that is slowly eroding their land.
“What I want to show is not just the environmental damage, but how the community continues to survive and adapt in the midst of those conditions,” said Rahid.
According to Rahid, the problem of abrasion in Kampung Beting is still not widely known by the public, even though its impact is directly felt by coastal residents every day. Through documentary photography, he hopes the issue will gain broader attention.
“I hope this work can be a way to voice the problem of abrasion that is happening in Kampung Beting so that it is more widely known by the public,” he said.
The issue of water resource management was also raised by Rizmi Azza Aqiffina through her Documentary Photo work "Rainwater Harvesting Movement by the Banyu Bening Community." The work documents the community's activities in harvesting, processing, and utilizing rainwater as an alternative water source.
“The clean water crisis remains a problem in various regions. Even though Indonesia has quite high rainfall, rainwater can actually be utilized as an alternative to meet water needs,” said Azza.
Besides recording the rainwater harvesting process, Azza also showcases community education activities and environmental conservation actions carried out by Komunitas Banyu Bening. According to him, photography can be a medium to show good practices born from the community.
“Through this work, I want to show that rainwater can be a real solution to help overcome the problem of clean water crisis if managed properly,” he said.
Meanwhile, Irza Saputra presents the artwork "Portrait of Environmental Rorokan in Kasepuhan Gelaralam, Sukabumi Regency, West Java." This work features the "rorokan," who are adat officials playing a crucial role in maintaining the balance between community needs and environmental preservation.
“I want to show that rorokan is not just a traditional governance structure, but also part of a system that maintains the community's relationship with nature,” said Irza.
Through this work, Irza demonstrates that local knowledge and customary governance have important contributions to environmental sustainability. The rorokan system is understood as part of a social mechanism that maintains the relationship between indigenous communities and nature as a source of life.
PFS #19 Prime Time affirming the role of ISI Yogyakarta as an art higher education institution that not only focuses on creating works but also encourages students to critically, contextually, and humanistically read societal issues. Through photography, students are invited to present works that possess artistic strength as well as social relevance.
This exhibition also demonstrates that the art education process at ISI Yogyakarta is capable of producing works that stem from research, social awareness, and depth of ideas. Thus, photography is not only positioned as an aesthetic medium but also as a tool for documentation, reflection, and conveying messages of humanity.
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