Korte beschrijving/Annotatie

A kaleidoscopic view of the colonial history of the Toraja people on Sulawesi, and a study of animistic patterns and traditional weaving forms

Tekst achterflap

Aluk To Dolo shows how a family history became intertwined with the colonial history of the former Dutch East Indies. The spread of Christianity as a new faith was received with mixed feelings on Sulawesi, home of the Toraja people. Traditional feasts and rites were banned in return for education, churches, and medical care. Almost a century later, Ringel Goslinga (NL) meets the Toraja of today and learns about the local customs and objects that still play a role in their culture. What began as a photographic research into the interface between ancestor worship and missionary work, gradually deepened into a study of almost extinct animistic patterns and traditional weaving forms. In the process, Goslinga learned the ‘language’ of weaving and sought to record these customs and traditions before they fall into oblivion.

Slogan/Promotie

Aluk To Dolo shows how a family history became intertwined with the colonial history of the former Dutch East Indies. The spread of Christianity as a new faith was received with mixed feelings on Sulawesi, home of the Toraja people. Traditional feasts and rites were banned in return for education, churches, and medical care. Almost a century later, Ringel Goslinga (NL) meets the Toraja of today and learns about the local customs and objects that still play a role in their culture. What began as a photographic research into the interface between ancestor worship and missionary work, gradually deepened into a study of almost extinct animistic patterns and traditional weaving forms. In the process, Goslinga learned the ‘language’ of weaving and sought to record these customs and traditions before they fall into oblivion.

Biografie

Ringel Goslinga (1969) lives and works as an independent portrait photographer in Amsterdam. Immediately after graduating from the Fotoacademie Amsterdam, he started working as an assistant to Koos Breukel. From 2002 to 2009 he assisted with photography, developed different film formats, and made analogue prints. From 2004 Goslinga worked in this darkroom parallel to his Family Tree project. In recent years, Goslinga has worked on several series and books. He became known for his weekly close-up portraits in NRC Weekend and later in Trouw. His series Family Tree was shown at Foam, and Circling Around To Sang at the Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam. For the project The New Suez Canal (Bas Vroege, Paradox), Goslinga travelled to Egypt with photographer Luuk Kramer and made a series of portraits of people working on the expansion of the Suez Canal.

Details