Early this summer, in a pristine, limestone mountain range in the East Java province of Indonesia, Mohammad Nur Nasikin met with the father and son pictured here. His aim was to capture a character from a treasured Indonesian theatrical dance and art form called Reog Ponorogo.
“Bujang Ganong is one of the characters in the dance; a young regent who is agile, skilful and clever,” Nasikin explains, “Mr Hanafie, on the left, is a true artist, skilled in many Javanese arts. He’s wearing the traditional costume worn by a Bujang Ganong dancer: a wooden ganong mask, and a bright red waistcoat, a shoulder cloth known as a sembong, and loose‑fitting trousers called katok panji. At his feet is his drummer – his son Tirta, which means ‘water’ in Javanese.”
