A member of the MES56 photography collective in Yogyakarta, Jim Allen Abel (Jimbo) works primarily with photography, exploring how historical events are interpreted through the prism of power politics. This series was born of his interest in investigating forgotten or submerged historical events and narratives, and centres on the burning down of a government building in the city of Semarang, Indonesia – a building housing archives of the history of the city as well as the history of Java during Dutch colonial rule -- purportedly as an attempt to eliminate evidence of corruption and a criminal conspiracy.A restaging of the moments leading up to the arson, Jimbo’s photographs reveal a mastery of tone and technique. Intended to be presented in a darkened space, the photographs initially appear as all-black fields to the viewer upon entry. Slowly, as the viewer’s eyes adjust to the lighting conditions, the details of the images gradually reveal themselves -- a process of discovery that parallels the uncovering of previously occluded narratives and the emergence of a new historical and political consciousness.
