By: Kurnia Ngayuga Wibowo
One of the complementary objects in the living room is family photos. Given that it serves to symbolize the presence of every family member, its existence appears to be required. We can identify who the father and mother are, how many children they have, or something that a family wants to display.
For example, the father of the family is a soldier. Usually, when doing a family photo session, he will wear his complete uniform to confirm this identification. Or, if the family is Javanese, they typically dress in traditional clothes for photoshoots to show their ethnic identity.
Personal family photos are typically taken by one of the family members in an amateurish manner rather than by a professional photographer. These photos are not displayed on the wall and are placed in a photo album stored in the closet.
Such family images are usually candid. They appear more real, depict more daily activities, are vernacular, and look as they are. So they are rarely displayed or exhibited to the closest audience, namely home visitors.
The decision not to display these types of photos may be based on political decisions. For instance, there is no image confirmation that is suitable for public exhibition. Alternatively, it may include confidential information that is best kept private.
Everything that is captured in a family photo seems to just happen. In fact, there is a kind of social construction that unconsciously underlies it all. I was daydreaming in the living room when I inadvertently spotted this. I scrutinized the photo of my own family, questioning every aspect it included.
A father, a mother, and three children—two sons and a daughter—are shown in my family photo. My mother is seated, as is my elder sister. From behind, my father and his two sons—including me—are standing.
From there, we can observe the tendency toward ambiguous positions. Why does my mother have to sit down? Is she viewed as the weaker member of the family because she is a woman? Is she the privileged one, instead? Why is my older sister, too, positioned in a sitting position? Does this imply that women are less powerful than men?
In the same way, why is my father placed standing behind my mother? Is the father portrayed as the strong one, as well as being a support for all members of his family?
The father seems to be the central point of a family, while other family members, such as the mother and children, become subordinates. In fact, both my mother and father work and play the role of breadwinner in our family. My father even does household chores that are typically done by a mother. So that kind of hierarchy is not so obvious that I don’t sense it at home.
“The father seems to be the central point of a family, while other family members, such as the mother and children, become subordinates.”
I understand that the poses was directed by the photographer. But we can identify a pattern because of the recurring tendency. Additionally, because the construction is so deeply ingrained, any changes will result in a kind of oddity.
I personally have a rather sad story with this photo. I think this picture was shot in 2006, while I was in the fifth grade of elementary school. At that time, my family went home to my father’s hometown in Yogyakarta and decided to take a family photo at a photo studio, “Kencana Photo”.
Our parents determined the clothes to be worn during the photo session and directed us to wear brown Javanese-Yogyakarta traditional clothes. Unfortunately, there were no sizes available for my little frame at the time, so I had to use traditional Javanese-Solo clothing, which, despite being brown, formed a rather noticeable color gradient.
At that time, I did not understand the impact of the difference in color gradation; I was just annoyed that the colors did not match. There was no wisdom to try to change to another color. It was only after the photo was printed that I felt something was odd when I saw the results.
The stark contrast in color gradation gives the impression that I’m not a member of the family. Actually, my elder brother used to bully me a lot, saying that I wasn’t from my own family.
But that’s all behind us now, and I regard it as a memory. And the fact that it has a backstory turns it into a sort of wisdom. The photo is now more memorable than the other photos in the house.
Then again, we frequently hear that the purpose of photography is to capture moments in time. So that when the photo is produced and we view it later, it serves as a bridge to recollect past occurrences.
This one function of photography is useful as a method of reading the times. In the context of family photos, it means that we will read the smallest and closest history of our own family. What remains and what changes. From the smallest reading, we can even read the symptoms in the context of a wider society.
Still in the same photo, which is my family’s 2006 photo. We can see my mother and older sister smiling in Javanese traditional garb, complete with makeup and a bun.
I still remember that, at that time, the trend of wearing the hijab had just started to emerge, but it was not as widespread as it is now. My female family members had not consistently used it. So in that photo, my mother and older sister did not mind taking photos without the hijab.
Meanwhile, in another photo of my family, which was taken around 2018 before the pandemic, when my two older siblings were already married, the females were all seen wearing the hijab. And indeed, in their daily lives, they have been obedient in wearing that symbolic religious clothing. In fact, the choice of clothes worn by all family members is different from the previous photo.
We wear “Muslim clothing” as if we want to show our association as part of a religious identity. Maybe at that time, the Islamic fervor of our family members was also increasing and developing. Currently, my mother is even reluctant to be photographed when she is not wearing a headscarf or even when most of her arms are not covered.
“Family photos are not actually a collective representation but rather a representation of several parties or one dominant party in the smallest social construction called family.”
My sister may be lucky, because our choice to take a family photo while dressed in Islamic garb is in line with her beliefs, or at least in line with what they wear on a daily basis. Meanwhile, many people who actually do not wear the hijab in their daily lives are forced to do so because of demands from their family.
Such demands certainly show a form of social injustice. We are not discussing whether or not a woman must wear a hijab in this instance. It all comes down to personal convictions. More importantly, though, are the space for negotiation and aspirations that are narrowed down regarding what a family actually wants to portray.
The decision regarding family photos is made by the parents, or the father alone. So that the family photo is not actually a collective representation but rather a representation of several parties or one dominant party in the smallest social construction called family. ***
This article was translated by Napol Riel.