This is a story about two generations that are 50 years apart. They meet in a common ground, despite a tall wall that divides them, built by the New Order. Walls are brought down, stories flow from both sides, two generations are brought closer.

 

Forum for Human Rights Advocacy and Education (Fopperham), an NGO in Yogyakarta, initiated a voluntary program for students of UIN Sunan Kalijaga University to visit ’65 survivors called One Week One Mother. The program involves university students to accompany the women survivors -  all of whom are 70 years old and above – for a day of shopping, running errands or just exchanging stories. Started in 2014, six batches of young people have now participated in the program.

 

For the aging survivors, some of whom are shunned away by society, or by their own family, it’s like meeting a newfound grandchild who shares affection and mutual trust. For the young people, who’ve been fed the oft-told New Order tale, it’s like finding a library filled with personal narratives on history and human stories on how to age gracefully, with dignity.

 

The exchange of space and stories is what binds the photos together. Young people are photographed in the personal space of aging survivors, in spaces filled with memories and history. The survivors are photographed in the students’ dorm rooms, brimming with ambitions and their favorite stuff. In short, this is a diptych photo series about two generations that are exchanging stories and will never stop questioning the history of this country.

 

Photographer : Adrian Mulya

Text and caption by Lilik Hs

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