OSCAR MOTULOH

Born in Surabaya, East Java, 17th August, 1959. He is a working photojournalist at Antara Photo News Agency (Indonesian National News Agency) since 1990. At first he was only assigned to replace retired photojournalist.

Although initially self-taught, Motuloh then proceeded to study photojournalism in Hanoi (1991) and Tokyo (1993). He has produced several books of photography: “East Timor, A Photographic Record”, “Marinir”, “Pengawal Samudra”, “The Land of Bulungan” and “East Timor, The Long and Winding Road”. The most recent book is the collected work of Eddy Hasby, a photojournalist at the premier Indonesian daily newspaper, Kompas. Motuloh teaches photojournalism at the Film and Television Faculty of the Jakarta Arts Institute and at the Antara School of Journalism. In 1992 he founded Antara Gallery for Photojournalism (Galeri Foto Jurnalistik Antara), the only of its kind in Southeast Asia.

Besides his work as Director of Antara Photo News Agency, Motuloh is also Executive Director of Antara Gallery for Photojournalism. He is frequently requested to sit as jury for various photo contests and to be curator for various exhibitions around Indonesia (included the photo exhibition “Urban Horizon, a Visual Opinion” supported by the Erasmus Huis (Dutch Cultural Centre).

His first one-man show, 'Voice of Angkor', was held at The Jakarta French Cultural Centre in 1997 titled. Motuloh's second solo show was “Carnaval” (1999), a satirical photo essay about the first general election after the fall of president Suharto. His next exhibition was “Chansons Peripheriques” (Peripheral Songs, 2002) about minorities in France. His most recent solo exhibition was “The Art of Dying” (2003) at Bentara Budaya Jakarta. His work also appeared in the last two CP Biennales (2004 &2006) and the Jakarta Biennale (2006).

He is also the editor of the photography book, “Samudra Air Mata” (An Ocean of Tears) published in February 2005 featuring 17 photographers covering the Aceh tsunami. Recently Motuloh has curated photo exhibitions and been editor/writer for photography books such as: an exhibition of 6 photographers about Aceh post-tsunami entitled “The Struggle Continues, 100 Days On” at Antara Gallery for Photojournalism; an exhibition and book launch, “Viewpoints” featuring the work of Sigit Pramono (R&W, 2005) and Lans Brahmantyo, “Soul Oddyssey” (R&W, 2005). In July 2005, together with 7 other photographers, Motuloh appeared in the book “The Loved Ones” (published by the Oktagon Foundation). He recently wrote the foreword and edited “Bisikan Alam”, a book of photography by Sigit Pramono.

Photo: Facebook, Group GFJA