Anton Gautama

 

Home Sweet Home

August 1–September 1, 2019

Artist talk: Saturday, August 3, 3:00 PM

While photographing for his first book, Pabean Passage, Anton Gautama grew fascinated by the blend of Chinese and Indonesian cultures he found inside the homes of East Java. Born as a third-generation Chinese-Indonesian, Gautama felt the “air of familiarity” of his own upbringing reflected in front of him, and he became inspired to document and explore this shared cultural heritage.

“There is a story in each frame, hopes and dreams embedded and encrypted beneath the layers of objects that fill the space,” he says. “They tell the stories about love, opportunities, challenges, laughter, and tears of those who have called them home.”

Anton Gautama was born in 1969 in Makassar, South Sulawesi, Indonesia. He is currently based in Surabaya, where he works professionally as a documentary photographer. Gautama earned a Master’s in Business Administration from Hawaii Pacific University. His photographs have been featured in online and print magazines, including LensCulture and National Geographic. Gautama’s work has also been shown in solo exhibitions at the Goethe Institute in Jakarta, and at the Indonesian Institute of Art in Jogjakarta.