Interest in the seemingly mundane, to keep life going! :)
By: Rebecca Jessica
Tags: Biography, Asian Culture, Life

Hermawan Chandra argues that there is a profound duality in photographing moments in time where the subject is facing away from the camera. After his trip to China a couple of years ago, Hermawan first got the idea to post these candid photographs of random strangers in public on Instagram with the hashtag #BacksToMaw. Without any clear point in time, his interest piqued as follows, “(1) when you shoot someone from their back or without their knowledge, they are usually in their most vulnerable state and show their true nature and they are relaxed and felt like they are not being watched, so I was able to capture the most random and “real” candid. However, here comes the 2nd point. (2) when people show you their back it could sometimes be also the moment where they are the most alert; they know that you are watching them and they only reveal certain parts that they want you to see”. In this blog post, I will be covering his love for Asian culture, growing up in Singapore, and dealing with today’s digital consumerism.

In most of Hermawan’s photographs, a strong common theme of Asian culture is highly present. Always being fond of East Asian cinema, Japanese movies and anime hold a special place in his heart. Amazed by how Korean dramas always seem to feed people the same old stories whilst managing to repackage them in ways that keep them interesting. More recently, however, grew his love for mainland Chinese Movies. Previously only knowing much about Taiwanese movies until a friend introduced him to films from mainland China, he found that they hold deep meaning and reflections of our daily mundane lives.

Growing up, Hermawan looked up to his older sister the most. Born in Sidoarjo, 24 August 1987, Hermawan spent most of his childhood-youth in Singapore — having moved there in 1998. He lived with his sister and a guardian until his sister graduated 4 years after, eventually moving in with a group of friends and a helper. He attended a primary school under the Singapore Hokkien Association, which also had many other Indonesian students. Hermawan has vivid memories of learning how to ride a bike from his neighbors. He lived in a very big apartment compound so he would go play soccer after school with the kids in his compound. Later on in secondary school, he and the few Indonesian students in his batch were judged more for being Indonesian rather than Chinese-Indonesian.

Before the pandemic, Hermawan would travel a lot with his basecamp mainly being Jakarta. A place he patrons on the daily is a small cafe in Menteng, Central Jakarta. With just enough space to fit around 4 tables, he most enjoys that it’s not crowded. His go-to order runs between a croissant, hearty chicken sandwich, french omelet, and a cuppa joe. Hermawan is now currently in Surabaya at his family residence. He feels lucky to have friends and family around that help keep his moral values in check and makes him remember to question. Hermawan views it as an ongoing process in a society that is everchanging. “So it’s always good to have some people around you can really trust to help you learn more about your values.”