Photo Essays | “Sumba: The World as a Reflection of the Ancestors” by Rio Helmi
This was going to be my first book project. At the time, 1981, I was working for Mutiara magazine, owned by the Sinar Kasih group in Jakarta, a media empire then second only to Kompas. I had been headhunted from the Bali Post by Tides Katoppo and had managed to bargain to stay based in Bali as an Associate Editor. I wasn’t quite sure what that really meant, but I told Tides it meant that I could write my own tickets to anywhere in the Archipelago, but with a special focus on the Lesser Sunda Island chain, all the way to Timor.
During that time, I became enamored of Sumba. It was wild in an almost romantic way – the horse culture fascinated me; the strength of the culture was palpable, and the presence of the ancestors was deep within the psyche of the Sumbanese. Though small, the island was anything but homogenous – it seemed like every district had a different dialect, and often a different language.
There were rustlers who burned villages, there were ritual battles on horseback when people would often get killed, and there were real battles fought over land (only during planting season!) and women. To marry a woman, you had to pledge more cattle than you could afford even after long, hard negotiations; a hold that your father-in-law held over you almost for life on purpose. There were amazing dyed and patterned textiles produced by women who unimaginably found time to produce them over periods of months, somehow squeezing it in between endless chores.
There were long extended rituals that the entire community joined in, the horns and jawbones from cattle and pigs slaughtered adorning traditional houses, and men never left the house without their machetes. And there were councils of priests who were the channel to the ancestor world, the real world for the Sumbanese – there were oral histories that took days to recite and were not to be interrupted.
For about five years, I was almost obsessed with Sumba. But somehow, the book never came together. I had never done a book before, and it would be a few years before I got enough experience. Maybe one day. But Sumba has changed, and sadly, investors have gotten their hands on it. Though now there are decent roads and regular flights, the magic of the ancestors is evaporating in a rush to cash in.
All these images are from the period between 1981 to 1985.
— Rio Helmi, esteemed photographer and writer
Rio Helmi
Biography
Born in Switzerland in 1954 to an Indonesian father who was the Indonesian Ambassador to Switzerland and the Vatican, and a Turkish mother, Rio Helmi has been capturing images of Asia and writing articles since 1978. His work can be seen in magazines, documentaries and more than 20 large format photographic books. Solo exhibitions of Rio’s still photography have been held in Bali, Jakarta, Madrid, Miyazaki, Palo Alto, San Francisco, and Sydney, and his works are held in private collections around the world including in Boston, Hong Kong, Jakarta, London, Los Angeles, Rome, San Francisco, Sydney, Tokyo, and Washington.
In the past, Rio has focused on the interaction between indigenous peoples and their environment, and as a result has traveled extensively across the Indonesian archipelago and further afield across Asia including Malaysia, Thailand, Japan, India and Mongolia, photographing remote communities and ethnic groups. In his early career, he worked in collaboration with John Darling and Lorne Blair on the documentary feature Lempad of Bali, as second cameraman and stills photographer. From 1979 to 1983, Rio worked as a photographer/writer and associate editor in the Indonesian media (Bali Post, Mutiara, Sinar Harapan, Tempo). Since 1983, Rio has freelanced contributing photo essays for many regional and international magazines (Asiaweek, Geo, Harper’s Bazaar, New York Times, New York magazine, Tempo, Time, Vanity Fair, Vogue, etc.).
Rio has been based in Bali for more than four decades, and speaks five languages fluently: Indonesian, Balinese, English, French, and German - as well as what he describes as a “very light smattering of Tibetan.” He writes in Indonesian and English, and also blogs sporadically about a wide range of topics including for the Huffington Post. He has also moderated panel sessions and conducted public interviews at the Ubud Writers’ and Readers’ Festival which is now an annual event of international repute. His latest book is called “Travels on Two Wheels, a broader perspective on Bali” a series of unconventional panoramas about the island, and was published in 2014. Rio’s previous book was a retrospective portfolio of Balinese ritual over the last 30 years called “Memories of the Sacred” launched early October 2010.
He is currently finishing work on his book about Balinese architect Popo Danes to be published by Rizzoli and launched at the Architecture Biennale in Venice in 2020. The latest multi-photographer show he participated in was called “The Age of Photography” at Tony Raka Gallery in Mas, and explored the work of Indonesia based professional photographers in the realm of contemporary art, curated by leading Indonesian art critic Jim Supangkat Ongoing long term projects include a series of urban-scapes and a documentation on migratory workers from Java to Bali. Rio also continues to work almost daily on a series called “Good Morning Ubud” for his website, Ubud Now & Then and published daily on the eponymous Facebook page. This year Rio has just completed a documentary project “Jangchub Lamrim” over four years on a series of teachings given by The Dalai Lama in South India working closely with the organizing committee. He is also currently working on TV series called Swadaya about community self-empowerment in Indonesian villages.
Published Works
Rio Helmi’s articles and photo essays have been published in various media including:
Asiaweek, Discovery (Hong Kong), Geo (France, Germany), Gulliver (Japan), Jakarta-Jakarta (Indonesia), Kikan Minzokogaku (Japan), Kompas (Indonesia), Matra (Indonesia), Merian (Germany), Mutiara (Indonesia), New York Times (U.S.A.), Seven Seas (Japan), Suara Pembaruan (Indonesia), Tempo (Indonesia), Time (Asia), Vogue (Australia, France, Singapore), Vanity Fair (Germany, Italy), and Winds (Japan).
Rio Helmi has served as the sole or main photographer for the following books.
Bali High, Paradise from Above — joint aerial photography Leonard Lueras (Times Editions), Bali Style (Times Editions, Thames & Hudson), Made in Indonesia (Equinox, Jakarta), Memories of the Sacred (Afterhours, Jakarta), Nusa Dua, Reflections of Bali (Editions Didier Millet, Singapore), Over Indonesia — an aerial view of the country, joint photography with Guido Rossi & Georg Gerster (Times Editions, Singapore), River of Gems: A Borneo Journal (Image Network Indonesia, Bali), and Travels on Two Wheels, A Broader Perspective on Bali (sponsored by Kawasaki).
Rio Helmi’s photographs have been published in large format, multi-photographer compilation books.
Borobudur, A Prayer in Stone (Editions Didier Millet, Paris), Borobudur, Golden Tales of the Buddha (Periplus Editions, Sing), Brunei Abode of Peace (Editions Didier Millet, Singapore), Crafts of Indonesia (Times Editions, Singapore), Indonesia, A Voyage Through the Archipelago (Millet- Owen-Weldon) [worked as Coordinator and Chief Photographer on this project], Malaysia, Heart of S.E. Asia (Editions Didier Millet, Paris), Mysteries of the East (Time-Life, USA), Nine Days in the Kingdom (Editions Didier Millet, Singapore), Offerings, The Ritual Art of Bali (Image Network Indonesia, Bali), Seven Days in the Kingdom (Times Editions, Singapore), and Seven Days in Myanmar (Editions Didier Millet 2013).
Special thank you to Rio Helmi for generously providing this photo essay to display on Art of the Ancestors. Stay tuned in the coming months for more features from Rio!