Photo Essays | Rio Helmi's Bali | Selections from “Memories of the Sacred”
A Baris Perisi (shield) dancer in a ritual performance in Tista. 1979.
© Rio Helmi
These images are mostly from my book Memories of the Sacred (2010), which came about quite organically. One day I just decided to put together a collection of images of Bali that I had taken over a period of almost 30 years — an attempt to capture something evanescent that has been disappearing from the island.
As Diana Darling put it in her essay for this book: “There is a certain something — a wild, spangled energy — that once saturated Bali as tangibly as its own tropical humidity…”.
The name Bali is said by some to come from an acronym of batara linggih or seat of the gods; by others, it is said to come from the term we-wali-an, which means a ritual offering performance during temple ceremonies. Ritual here, staged with great fanfare, has as its goal to make manifest both loyalty to a tightly structured society and devotion to a myriad of gods whose relationships mirror those of the human realm.
Visually elaborate as these events are, the most intense junctures during these moments are human ones. At some point, there can come a shift, a transition from an everyday identity to something beyond, and from the divine to every day. During ceremonies, the music and the manipulation of ritual paraphernalia build up momentum, creating a tension which will finally be relieved in the central event around which the whole event revolves. Tuned in through lifelong immersion in this magical world, the Balinese have a sense of timing that no watch can measure. And then it happens: wrathful ancestors arrive into trembling bodies, studied roles come alive, spontaneously choreographed performers transform into other-worldly tableaux.
This link to the unseen carries over into everyday life, even into the landscape. To this day, the visual proof of the Balinese admission to the divine in every aspect of their lives is alive and well, a vibrant aesthetic unlike any other in the world.
— Rio Helmi, esteemed photographer and writer
Rio Helmi
Biography
Born in Switzerland in 1954 to an Indonesian father who was the Indonesian Ambassador to Switzerland and the Vatican, and a Turkish mother, Rio Helmi has been capturing images of Asia and writing articles since 1978. His work can be seen in magazines, documentaries and more than 20 large format photographic books. Solo exhibitions of Rio’s still photography have been held in Bali, Jakarta, Madrid, Miyazaki, Palo Alto, San Francisco, and Sydney, and his works are held in private collections around the world including in Boston, Hong Kong, Jakarta, London, Los Angeles, Rome, San Francisco, Sydney, Tokyo, and Washington.
In the past, Rio has focused on the interaction between indigenous peoples and their environment, and as a result has traveled extensively across the Indonesian archipelago and further afield across Asia including Malaysia, Thailand, Japan, India and Mongolia, photographing remote communities and ethnic groups. In his early career, he worked in collaboration with John Darling and Lorne Blair on the documentary feature Lempad of Bali, as second cameraman and stills photographer. From 1979 to 1983, Rio worked as a photographer/writer and associate editor in the Indonesian media (Bali Post, Mutiara, Sinar Harapan, Tempo). Since 1983, Rio has freelanced contributing photo essays for many regional and international magazines (Asiaweek, Geo, Harper’s Bazaar, New York Times, New York magazine, Tempo, Time, Vanity Fair, Vogue, etc.).
Rio has been based in Bali for more than four decades, and speaks five languages fluently: Indonesian, Balinese, English, French, and German - as well as what he describes as a “very light smattering of Tibetan.” He writes in Indonesian and English, and also blogs sporadically about a wide range of topics including for the Huffington Post. He has also moderated panel sessions and conducted public interviews at the Ubud Writers’ and Readers’ Festival which is now an annual event of international repute. His latest book is called “Travels on Two Wheels, a broader perspective on Bali” a series of unconventional panoramas about the island, and was published in 2014. Rio’s previous book was a retrospective portfolio of Balinese ritual over the last 30 years called “Memories of the Sacred” launched early October 2010.
He is currently finishing work on his book about Balinese architect Popo Danes to be published by Rizzoli and launched at the Architecture Biennale in Venice in 2020. The latest multi-photographer show he participated in was called “The Age of Photography” at Tony Raka Gallery in Mas, and explored the work of Indonesia based professional photographers in the realm of contemporary art, curated by leading Indonesian art critic Jim Supangkat Ongoing long term projects include a series of urban-scapes and a documentation on migratory workers from Java to Bali. Rio also continues to work almost daily on a series called “Good Morning Ubud” for his website, Ubud Now & Then and published daily on the eponymous Facebook page. This year Rio has just completed a documentary project “Jangchub Lamrim” over four years on a series of teachings given by The Dalai Lama in South India working closely with the organizing committee. He is also currently working on TV series called Swadaya about community self-empowerment in Indonesian villages.
Published Works
Rio Helmi’s articles and photo essays have been published in various media including:
Asiaweek, Discovery (Hong Kong), Geo (France, Germany), Gulliver (Japan), Jakarta-Jakarta (Indonesia), Kikan Minzokogaku (Japan), Kompas (Indonesia), Matra (Indonesia), Merian (Germany), Mutiara (Indonesia), New York Times (U.S.A.), Seven Seas (Japan), Suara Pembaruan (Indonesia), Tempo (Indonesia), Time (Asia), Vogue (Australia, France, Singapore), Vanity Fair (Germany, Italy), and Winds (Japan).
Rio Helmi has served as the sole or main photographer for the following books.
Bali High, Paradise from Above — joint aerial photography Leonard Lueras (Times Editions), Bali Style (Times Editions, Thames & Hudson), Made in Indonesia (Equinox, Jakarta), Memories of the Sacred (Afterhours, Jakarta), Nusa Dua, Reflections of Bali (Editions Didier Millet, Singapore), Over Indonesia — an aerial view of the country, joint photography with Guido Rossi & Georg Gerster (Times Editions, Singapore), River of Gems: A Borneo Journal (Image Network Indonesia, Bali), and Travels on Two Wheels, A Broader Perspective on Bali (sponsored by Kawasaki).
Rio Helmi’s photographs have been published in large format, multi-photographer compilation books.
Borobudur, A Prayer in Stone (Editions Didier Millet, Paris), Borobudur, Golden Tales of the Buddha (Periplus Editions, Sing), Brunei Abode of Peace (Editions Didier Millet, Singapore), Crafts of Indonesia (Times Editions, Singapore), Indonesia, A Voyage Through the Archipelago (Millet- Owen-Weldon) [worked as Coordinator and Chief Photographer on this project], Malaysia, Heart of S.E. Asia (Editions Didier Millet, Paris), Mysteries of the East (Time-Life, USA), Nine Days in the Kingdom (Editions Didier Millet, Singapore), Offerings, The Ritual Art of Bali (Image Network Indonesia, Bali), Seven Days in the Kingdom (Times Editions, Singapore), and Seven Days in Myanmar (Editions Didier Millet 2013).
Special thank you to Rio Helmi for generously providing this photo essay to display on Art of the Ancestors.