Bali 1977
This is a look back in time, to my 1977 trip to the Indonesian island of Bali. There I met up with Australian writer and poet John Darling, who introduced me to the painter I Gusti Nyoman Lempad and his son, Sumung; as well as - by association - other painters such as Wayan Radjin, his father Djata and student Murtika ... and the Australian painter Donald Friend.
On Bali I met Leesa, who became the mother of my three children; we named our first-born - in 1978 - Radjin (a.k.a. Rad). Together with his brother Yani, the two run Unity Gym in North Sydney.
yours truly, Bali, Indonesia, 1977
For this trip I used two Leica M4 cameras, with 21mm, 35mm, 50mm Noctilux and 90mm lenses, and TRI X film.
the painter I Gusti Nyoman Lempad, his second wife and his son, Sumung; Lempad was about 115 years of age
painting by Lempad
Lempad's and Sumung's family in Ubud in 1977
some of Lempad's art-works, stone and wood carvings; the mainstay of his oeuvre, though, is painting and drawing
the stone carver Cemul
Cemul with one of his daughters
Cemul's family, Ubud, Bali in 1977
the painter I Wayan Radjin of Batuan, Bali, Indonesia Radjin is attributed - together with his father I Made Djata - the development of the romantic Batuan style of painting, which derives from the ink-and-paper media of the 1930s, pioneered by Walter Spies; Radjin had created his own art school, where one student was Murtika (see below); Radjin told me that he completes about six paintings a year, i.e. one every 2 months, working on them for about 2 hours in the morning and again 2 hours in the evening. We named our first born son Radjin ... now widely know as Rad
painting by Radjin
I Made Djata, member of the Pita Maha movement, has functioned for years as Batuan's in-house drawing master; he was Radjin's father, mentor and teacher
painting by Djata
the art student Murtika
painting by Murtika
the (anonymous) wood carver in Ubud,
who carved the frames for my paintings
Bali's Gunung Agung
three stages of a Balinese rice field
Australian writer, documentary film producer and poet,