Having headwaters at the foot of a very active volcanic mountain, the 'Code' river has
experienced severe flooding for several times. The inhabitants call it as cold
lava flood. Cold lava material comes from the frequently erupted volcano,
where in the rainy season the material drifts from the upstream to downstream
areas. When there is a heavy rain that caused disasters, such a large overflow of water is able to carry materials of sand and stones (from gravel to big stones) to downstream.
Although the
natural phenomena occur at certain times inflict a financial loss, destructive,
and can even take lives, at normal times the materials such as sand, gravel and
stone turn out to be a great blessing. The stuff is high quality building
materials which have economic value.
In the downstream
area, river water flows through urban areas. Right at this spot I was
documenting several riverbank areas. It is clearly seen in the pictures that
the area is very densely populated, so that the settlement even becomes very
close to the river's water level. From an environmental point of view, riverbank is not recommended and even prohibited for dwellings. However, socio-economic complications that have occurred for a very long time, causing this area to be a very dense settlement nowadays.
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| Dense settlement by the river |
In another spot,
the complexity of dense settlement causes the construction of houses are built
vertically up on the slope of the cliff. This is getting worse by the heavy
traffic on the bridge. Even at a certain point, above the bridge for vehicles,
there is also a double track bridge for train. Maybe, that is the most
complicated part in the river.
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| The train crosses over the bridge for vehicles below it |
However, many
people see this kind of complexity from another side. They positively regard
this uniqueness as a valuable advantage. Of course, they observe it in terms of
photography ideas. The view of the river below the dense settlement on slope of
the cliff is considered as an object of artistic value. No wonder that many
people documented it, especially in the era of digital photography like today
where the technology have made it very easy for almost everyone to record
everything and all events on all occasions.
Yet, I have even
more of interest, I have a better idea to move the beauty of ‘Code’ river onto
canvas. Anyway, I see it as an extraordinary object for an art painting. And
in this case, I always hold on to my principle of freedom of expression, so
there are many distortions and biases which for me are common. Especially in giving
character to the original image and then making it something new.
In terms
of painting, I have never cared about a certain necessity in seeing objects as
a reality (see: My Personal Views on Fine Arts), I free myself through the
brush strokes and colors choice that I like into a completely new object on
canvas. On this 70 x 90 cm canvas, I always talk about
the burning passion and hope!
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| The dwellings at the slope of a cliff on the riverbank |
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| The new object of the river |
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