Antara Holds Photo Exhibition Commemorating 80th Anniversary

Jakarta (Antara Bali) - Antara News Agency on Friday in Jakarta held a photo exhibition titled "Histori Masa Depan", the Future History, to commemorate the 80th anniversary of the Indonesian news agency.

The photo exhibition was inaugurated by President Director of Antara Meidyatama Suryodiningrat at Antara's photojournalism gallery and museum, GFJA,  in Jakarta on Friday evening.

Meidyatama said in retrospect that Antara was founded on 13 December 1937 in Jakarta, when the country was still a colony in the Dutch Empire, by four independence activists, Soemanang, A.M. Sipahoetar, Pandoe Kartawigoena and Adam Malik.

Antara's inception was driven by dissatisfaction with the lack of local coverage by the Dutch-owned Aneta News Agency at that time.

Antara had also played a key role in the broadcast of Indonesia's proclamation of independence in 1945

   

"The 80th anniversary means that as a media, as an intellectual work, we always renew ourselves, always searching and building through creations that would keep this nation alive and remain young no matter how old it would be," Meidyatama said.

The exhibition displayed photographs collections of IPPHOS, Antarafoto, and Bronbeek Museum of the Netherlands.

"It cover both sides as it showcases two perspectives, from the Dutch and from Indonesia," Hermanus Prihatna, Chief of Antara's Photo Buerau Division noted.

Hermanus and Oscar Matulloh, senior Antara's photojournalist curated the photo collections for the exhibition.

The photograph collections such as the first office building of Antara in Pasar Baru, Hiroshima's atomic bomb aftermath, and Indonesia's proclamation of independence, were neatly arranged in rather interactive way to narrate the history of Antara's establishment and the Indonesia's independence.

The exhibition also recorded historical moments in Indonesia's post-independence which took place in the era of the first president, Soekarno, until the seventh president, Joko Widodo.

Thus, "history is not for the past, but for the future generation," Hermanus said about the photo exhibition's theme.

In the same occasion, Antara also launched a photo book of Histori Masa Depan which contains collections of photographs showcased in the exhibition.

The opening of the exhibition was also attended by officials from the National Library, National Archives, National Museum Association, and Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Indonesia.

The "Histori Masa Depan" photo exhibition is free for public and is held from December 15 2017 until February 4 2018 in Antara photojournalism gallery and museum, GFJA, in Pasar Baru, Jakarta. (WDY)