Tearsheet

The Cost of Indonesia Food Estate Program on The Washington Post, January 2024

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Recent photo and video work for The Washington Post on The Cost of Indonesia Food Estate Program

Story Excerpt:
Indonesia has been clearing tens of thousands of acres of densely vegetated peatland for farming, releasing massive amounts of carbon that had been sequestered below for centuries and destroying one of the Earth’s most effective means of storing greenhouse gases.

The country is home to as much as half of the planet’s tropical peatland, a unique ecosystem that scientists say is vital to averting the worst results of climate change. Government leaders have made halting efforts to protect peatlands over the last two decades, but three years ago, when the pandemic disrupted food supply chains, officials launched an ambitious land-clearance operation in a push to expand the cultivation of crops and cut Indonesia’s reliance on expensive imports.

Read the story by Rebecca Tan with additional reporting by Dera Sijabat here

Dirty Coal Mining in Borneo for PublicEye Magazine, September 2023 Issue

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Photo and aerial video work for PublicEye, a Switzerland-based journalism NGO which focuses on troubling practices by Swiss companies all over the world. On this piece, I traveled to Borneo to document coal mining owned by IMR and Mercuria. The resulting images are published on the September issue of the magazine (also on the cover).

Story excerpt:
Giving the mining sector carte blanche has enabled Indonesia to become a top coal exporter in the space of a decade. Public Eye travelled to the heart of the world’s second-largest tropical forest, to a village inhabited by the Dayak indigenous group. Since 2019, inhabitants have been struggling with a mine operated on behalf of a Swiss conglomerate. Land grabbing, contamination of air and water: coal is a partial and capricious king.

Written by Adria Budry Carbo

Read the story online here (best view on desktop)

Assignment via Panos Picture

Farwiza Farhan on Time Magazine October 2022 Cover

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It’s undeniable that the climate change (or crisis probably a more proper term) has put great challenges for us human being all over the world. It’s not the future, but it’s already happening. One of the thing that contributes to the worsening of the crisis is the loss of forest cover. In Indonesia, it’s happening at an alarming rate (still).

It’s for the exact same reason why Farwiza Farhan’s effort with Haka is increasingly becoming important than ever. Sumatra, the sixth biggest island in the world, is among our planet’s last bastion of rainforest. Its lush jungle is home to various protected species like Sumatran tigers, orang-utans, elephants, to name a few. There’s a reason why people call it as the ‘lung of the world’.

Farwiza and her organization, which collaborate with local communities, focus on the Leuser Ecosystem in the Indonesian province of Aceh, one of the most important part of Sumatran rainforest. They work through policy advocacy, raising awareness, and strengthening community involvement and participation.

A little over a month ago, I was contacted by Time photo editor Whitney Matewe to photograph Farwiza as part of their 100 Next issue. I was a little nervous since the timeframe was quite tight and I was traveling for another assignment at that time. After a few discussion via email, Whitney came up with the concept of the ‘rising sun’ as a metaphor for what Farwiza is doing. We then decided to use a massive piece of colored fabric as props in order to depict the idea in a subtle way. For the location, we did the session at Kebun Raya Bogor (Bogor Botanical Garden), located around 40 km south of Jakarta. The session ran very smoothly (thanks to all the crew for sure). And I need to credit Farwiza too. She is such an amazing and relaxing person to work with.

Above is the final result as published on the cover the magazine. It’s scheduled to be hitting the newsstand by next week. What an honor to be able to contribute, even how small it is, to Farwiza’s effort.

And read the feature written by the one and only Jane Goodall here.

Photographer: Muhammad Fadli
Photo Editor: Whitney Matewe
Producer: Atikah Zata
First Assistant: Atet Pramadia
Second Assistant: Zulkifli
Video Team: Brahmma Putra & Majesty Benaya (Utuh Studio)

President Joko Widodo in Monocle No. 156, September 2022

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It’s been a while since I photographed for Monocle. Teaming up with James Chambers, I traveled to Labuan Bajo (the so-called new Bali) in order to join Indonesian President Joko Widodo on his offical trip last July. James would have an exclusive interview with the president, talking about his on-going second term and also his legacies once he stepped down from the office in two years time.

This was my forth time meeting and photographing the president. To my surprise, the protocols were much more strict than ever (because of the on-going pandemic and possibly for the recent happening with Shinzo Abe in Japan). Apart from the intimate time spent onboard the phinisi schooner, it was very difficult to get close to the president. Glad that the images somehow turned out quite well. Below are the publication in Monocle No.156, September 2022.

Writer: James Chambers
Photo Editor: Matthew Beaman

Nicholas Saputra for OPPO Find X5 Pro 5G Campaign

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Last April, in my second year collaborating with OPPO, I was asked to produce a key visual of a campaign for their latest flagship phone OPPO Find X5 Pro 5G. The final result would be displayed in various places and medium: billboard at the malls, social media, etc.

For the campaign, I collaborated with Nicholas Saputra, the renowned Indonesian actor who become the brand ambassador. The shot were taken in Bali Barat National Park, Bali, where I also produced a series of photographs and video to test the limit of this new phone.

I will be sharing the series I produced at the national park in the next post.

For now, here’s one of the final layout from the shot.

Photographer: Muhammad Fadli
Art Direction: Artnivora
Producer: Fauzy Chaniago
Digital Imaging: Fajar Sofyan