A Review of Indonesian Folktale Preservation through Visual

Storytelling in the Form of Photography for Young Adult

Angela Oscario

, Liliek Adelina Suhardjono

, Laura Christina Luzar

and B. Sriherlambang

Creative Advertising Program, Visual Communication Design Department, School of Design, Bina Nusantara University,

Jakarta, Indonesia 11480

New Media Program, Visual Communication Design Department, School of Design, Bina Nusantara University, Jakarta,

Indonesia 11480

Keywords: Workshop, Photography

Abstract: Folktale is one of many Indonesian heritages that need to be preserved. Through a workshop held by Binus

University, Jakarta – Indonesia and Tomas Bata University – Czech Republic, young adults created visual

storytelling of folktales to attract the attention of their own age group and feel the connection with the story,

so they are interested to read the folktales. As the case study, we chose a photograph series of Sitti Nurbaya

by Dwima Hamid, a participant of the workshop. The objective is to understand how Hamid created a

relevant visual story telling of a folktale for the young adult. The first step of this qualitative research is

using content analysis to find the gap between Sitti Nurbaya storyline and the interest of the young adult.

The second step is analysing the form of Sitti Nurbaya visual storytelling to define its content and context.

Using content analysis, we then use the data to identity whether the visual storytelling is relevant for the

young adult. The results are the steps on how to create a visual storytelling of folktale that can grab the

interest of the young adult in order to preserve it and make it sustainable.

1 INTRODUCTION

In terms of culture, Indonesia is a very rich country.

With approximately 1340 ethnic groups, Indonesia

possesses massive numbers of folktales that were

inherited from generations to generations. Folktales

contain local wisdoms that reflect a number of

cultural system information such as philosophies,

values, and norms (Unsriana, 2013). These folktales

reflect how the society views itself, its social value

and justice (Shoniwa, 2013). They are used as

educational tools to introduce literary, social and

cultural heritage of diverse cultures (Bruijn, 2013).

They have the power to transfer local wisdom,

influence people’s perception, behavior and attitude

(Songsil, 1999).

Content-wise, folktales are not exclusive for

children age group. Some, such as Roro Mendut,

Sangkuriang and Sitti Nurbaya, are more suitable for

young adults than children. Until the 90s, folktales

were still popular in Indonesian society; however,

currently the young generations, especially those

who live in big cities, barely know any Indonesian

folktales (Purwanto, 2008). There are several factors

that made folktales lost its popularity. For example,

the rise of digital media that provides more engaging

entertainments, which accelerates the behavioral

change that make the folktales become no longer

relevant. Indonesian writer from North Sumatra,

Damiri Mahmud, said that the young adults feel

indifference toward folktales because they consider

its storytelling and characters as outdated. They are

more interested in modern high-tech metropolitan

storylines – things that are closely related with their

daily life (Riandini, 2016).

Cultural critics, educators, and people in creative

industries have put some efforts to preserve

folktales. They hold storytelling events, publish

children folktale books and/or interactive e-books,

and even produce movies. However, the majority of

these activities were targeted for children, and left

out the young adult segment.

Considering that, Visual Communication Design

– Creative Advertising program, Bina Nusantara

University (Indonesia), and Tomas Bata University

(Czech Republic) tried to take part to preserve

folktales for the young adults. Together, they hold a

series of workshop to rekindle the folktales from

498

Oscario, A., Suhardjono, L., Luzar, L. and Sriherlambang, B.

A Review of Indonesian Folktale Preservation through Visual Storytelling in the Form of Photography for Young Adult.

DOI: 10.5220/0010019800002917

In Proceedings of the 3rd International Conference on Social Sciences, Laws, Arts and Humanities (BINUS-JIC 2018), pages 498-502

ISBN: 978-989-758-515-9

respective countries, in the form of photography as

visual story that can help hold the attention of the

reader. Visual helps readers to imagine the story,

make connections with what they read, so the story

feels more tangible. Through visual, readers could

gain better understanding of the story (Anon, 2016).

The goal of the workshop was exploring relevant

visual storytelling that makes the young adult

attracted to read the folktales. Mr. Noor Latif, Mr.

Tomy Alim, Mr. Jan Jindra and Ms. Eva Plutova

coached the first workshop, held in 2015. There

were six Indonesian students participated, and their

projects were later exhibited at the university’s

gallery. One project in particular – a series of

photographs from the Sitti Nurbaya folktale by

Dwima Hamid received many attentions during the

exhibition. Due to Hamid’s success in grabbing

people’s attention, this research will focus on how

he created visual storytelling to attract the young

adult to read folktales.

2 METHODS

This research incorporates some qualitative

methods, namely literature study, persona method,

and content analysis method. Firstly, we analyse

how the society portraits the Sitti Nurbaya folktale

through existing literature studies and online data.

Along with it, we collect data of the young adult in

big cities by observation and literature method.

Based on Academic Search Premier & SocIndex,

the term “young adult” is used for people in 18-25

age groups (Anon). Hamid is allegedly a member of

this age group. We then process these data using

persona – a method that was created by Alex Cooper

in 1998. Persona is a synthesized character to

represent a group of people who share common

goals, attitudes and behaviors (Curedale, 2013).

Subsequently, using content analysis we compared

the common perception of Sitti Nurbaya and the

young adult persona to understand the gap that

makes story of the folktale irrelevant to young

adults. Content analysis is a method to make

inference that can be replicated and valid data with

the regard to its context (Bungin, 2007).

For the second part of the research, we visually

read Sitti Nurbaya in the form of photograph series

and analyse it using Robert Bersson’s ‘form, content

and context’ theory. Content is the meaning that

consists of denotative or connotative meaning, while

context is the situation when the artwork was created

or interpreted (Bersson, 2004). Using content

analysis, we compared the content and context of

Sitti Nurbaya photograph series and the young adult

persona. The next step, using screenplay theory from

Syd Field (Field, 2005), we analyse Hamid’s

perspective as his foundation to create a visual

storytelling. Finally, we conclude with the steps on

how Hamid created a relevant visual story telling of

folktale for young adult.

2.1 Waste Management Literacy

Generally, literacy defines as the capacity of human

beings to apply their knowledge and skills on

specific issues and conduct analysis, and

communicate effectively the views, solutions

proposed and interpretations of problems in various

situations. Since the term of literacy relates to the

context, such as financial literacy for a financial

issue or environmental literacy for learning process

in raising knowledge of the environment. Solid

waste is one of the most complex environmental

problems as it produces by individuals, but the final

process of the materials becomes the responsibility

of the government. However, community

participation has an important role in accomplishing

integrated waste management. In order to raise

awareness and community participation, waste

management literacy is needed, so it encourages a

person to have knowledge and skills in managing

waste.

Therefore, the activities of literacy,

communication, and interpretation of the

environment are interrelated activities. Heat

(Bungin, 2007) mentions that literary events

generally occur in the classroom, but the practice is

reflected in activities within the home or in the

public sphere or in the community. Along with the

development of information technology, where the

internet becomes a space that allows distance

education, then there also environmental/ecological

literacy activities can take place. This concept is in

line with what Mocker and Spear have proposed:

self-directed learning or self-learning where self, in

view of refers to autonomous behavior for both

individuals and groups who agree to study together.

3 RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS

3.1 The Portrait of Siti Nurbaya

Folktales in Indonesian Society

Sitti Nurbaya is Indonesian romance novel written in

Malay language by Marah Rusli in 1922. Not many

people have read the original novel, but because the

A Review of Indonesian Folktale Preservation through Visual Storytelling in the Form of Photography for Young Adult

499

story was considered phenomenal at that time, it was

orally passed down from generation to generation.

The premise of the story is the fate of a girl, Sitti

Nurbaya, who sacrificed herself to marry a rich man

named Datuk Meringgih, to pay her father’s debt.

During their marriage, Sitti became a victim of

domestic violence. Because of that, after her father’s

death, Sitti struggled to get back to her true love,

Samsubahri, but Datuk Meringgih would do

anything to hold her off. Despite the actual premise,

Sitti Nurbaya is known as a story that depicts the

negative effects of a forced marriage. The setting

took place on the early 20

century in Padang where

the Dutch colonized Nusantara. At that time, the

society was ruled by the common law, and what Sitti

did (trying to get out from her violence marriage and

get back to her lover) was considered as a law

violation.

3.2 Persona of Indonesian Young

Adults That Live in Big Cities

18-25 years olds are split into two generations

dubbed as ‘the millennials’ (gen Y), born between

1981-1996; and ‘post millennials’ (gen Z), born after

1996. Since the main target for romance novel is

woman, accordingly this research focuses on female

young adult in big cities.

Based on Bryan Melmed’s research that was

presented at Advertising Week in New York, the

millenials are the most diverse and heterogeneous

generation. He divided millennials into twelve

groups (Griner, 2014). Among these twelve groups,

the most potential target for Sitti Nurbaya is ‘Boss

Babes’ who are considered as a feminist. Based on

the literature research and observation on user

model, we then made their persona. Meanwhile, for

the post millennials, because the oldest has only

reached 21 years old, the research about them is not

as much as millennials. Based on their general

characteristics and observation on user model, we

also made another persona.

3.2.1 Summary of a Persona for 22-25 Years

Old Group

Liberty is 25 years old woman living in Jakarta. She

works as a marketing communication officer but she

dreams to start her own coffee shop that

empowering local coffee farmers. For her, success

means helping others to succeed. If anybody says

her dream is impossible, she will feel challenged and

try to prove that they were wrong. She was raised to

believe that she is special and can achieve whatever

she put her determination into. In her social media,

she follows women influencers that are independent

and confidence. Inspired by them, she does not

hesitate to express her voice in any social issues. She

spends her relax time drinking coffee with friends,

browsing image and video, reading articles that she

finds related to her life in the internet.

3.2.2 Summary of a Persona for 18-21 Years

Old Group

Malinda is 18 years old communication student in a

private university in Jakarta. She knows that the

world is in chaos, so deep inside she worries about

her future. She realizes that she was not born special,

and so she must compete with her peers. This

competitive tendency makes her prefer to do things

alone rather than in group. She believes in freedom –

for her, freedom means having her own private

territory. She carefully curates her social media

content and does not rant her feelings on it. To catch

her attention, one must personalize their posts to suit

her interest. She concerns about social issues, but

gender discrimination is not one of them because she

believes that women and men have already

possessed equal rights.

3.3 Content Analysis of the Gap

Between Sitti Nurbaya Folktale and

the Young Adults

The story of forced marriage and domestic violence

is not relevant for the female young adult in big

cities. For the 18-21 years olds, they do not believe

that this still happened, because to their knowledge

women have already had the same right as men. For

the 22-25 years olds who prefer to read something

that are related and/or inspiring to them, a woman

that was obedient enough to have a forced marriage

was not their preferred source of inspiration. Sitti

Nurbaya’s earlier periodical setting also convinces

them that those social issues are out dated, not

something they should have taken care of.

3.4 Visual Story Telling of Sitti

Nurbaya Folktale by Dwima Hamid

Hamid made five photo series to represent the Sitti

Nurbaya folktales. He chose photography as his

visual approach because he wanted his artworks to

look as real as possible. As Roland Barthes said the

photographic image is not the reality, but at least it

is its perfect analogon (Barthes, 2003).

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Photo (a) depicts a woman inside a birdcage with

a sincere expression. We do not see any third party

that force her to go inside, so it implies that it is her

own decision to go inside the cage. Photo (b) depicts

a woman that is trapped into submission. Her hands

are tied, implied that her power to make her own

decision had been robbed. Despite her condition, she

still displays resilient expression. Photo depicts a

woman inside a birdcage, screamed her lungs out.

She cannot keep her silence anymore. There’re

butterflies outside the cage. Butterfly is a symbol of

transformation or metamorphosis in life (Harris). It

implied that she is about to start to transform her

life, fight for her freedom. Photo (d) depicts a

smiling woman with swollen eyes and wound mark

on her neck. Even though she’s hurt, she’s no longer

inside a cage or being tied. She has her freedom.

Even though she is defeated, she felt like a winner.

Photo (e) depicts a relax woman with closed eyes.

Butterflies around her head implied that even though

she died, she found her peace because she has fought

for her belief.

All of the photographs shot in white plain

background, so we cannot associate it with a certain

year. The model wears modern clothing and applies

thin makeup with simple and natural hairstyle. Her

complete styling implies that her story happens in

present-day.

His photograph series used figurative language

with some subliminal messages. The objects on the

photo symbolically stand for something else.

Figuratively, the photograph tells us a story about a

modern woman who struggles to fight for her belief.

It does not say anything specific about a forced

marriage or domestic violence but covers general

issues related to freedom.

To attract the attention of the young adult, the

visual story telling is not only need to be relevant,

but also possess a stopping power. The first photo is

the most crucial because it determines whether the

audience will continue to observe the artwork or not.

If we look at photo (a), Hamid tried to make a

stopping power using irony figurative language. The

common perception is woman that is caged would

looks stressed but in photo (a) the woman expression

looks calm. Again in photo (d), the woman is

wounded but smiling. Those anomalies make the

audience curious to decipher things that more than

meet the eye.

(a) (b)

Figure 1. Sitti Nurbaya Visual Storytelling by Dwima

Hamid

3.5 Visual Story Telling of Sitti

Nurbaya Folktale by Dwima Hamid

and Young Adult Analysis

On his photograph series, Hamid focused only on

Sitti Nurbaya and eliminated other characters. He

portrayed Sitti as an independent woman who makes

her own decision (including the decision to be

restrained). He broadened the topic from a forced

domestic violence into the struggle to stand for one’s

belief. However, he still followed the original plot: a

woman who sacrifices her freedom, but finally

fought to get it back. The photographs also retain the

original moral value; a strong woman who would

not stay silent or wait to be rescued, but struggled to

reach her own happiness. Hamid did not change the

story but find a relevant perspective to cater the

story for the young adults.

Hamid’s artwork easily reached the female

young adult’s attention because it portrays Sitti

Nurbaya as a present day’s strong independent

woman. In the photographs, Sitti is the kind of

woman they would follow on social media. She

matches the profile of source of inspirations: a

woman who bravely follows her dreams and struggle

for her belief no matter what. Gender issue may not

attract the 18-21 years olds group, but they do care

about the freedom issue. They, who want to have

their own private area, think that freedom is

everyone’s right. The modern portrayal of the

photograph also makes the issue feels more real and

relevant to them. Hamid dressed up the model with

the style of model in a fashion editorial in young

A Review of Indonesian Folktale Preservation through Visual Storytelling in the Form of Photography for Young Adult

501

adult media. Most female young adult groups look at

that kind of model as one of their style aspirations.

4 CONCLUSION

Folktale is one of Indonesian heritages that must be

preserved. Preservation can be done through various

ways. Dwima Hamid tried to preserve folktale by

creating a relevant visual story telling of a folktale

for young adult in big cities in Indonesia. The

relevant visual story telling is used to attract the

young adult’s attention, help them to relate with the

story and furthermore interested to read the

folktales.

Based on the review of Sitti Nurbaya

preservation action by Hamid, here are the steps to

create a relevant visual story telling of folktale for

the young adult:

❖ Research on young adult personality. Find

their interests.

Connect the content of the story with the

interests of the young adult. It is not

mandatory to modify the content of the

story but it is necessity to find a relevant

point of view to frame the story.

Change the context of the story to make it

closer with the daily life of the young adult.

Alter the old setting into a modern setting

to match their environment.

Visualize the content and context into a

form that is relevant to young adult’s

interest. Photography is not a must, but it

makes a visual storytelling looks more real.

Craft the appearance of the model so that it

resembles young adults’ everyday attires.

Both of literal and figurative language can

be used, however, figurative language has

broader interpretations, so the young adults

can connect with the visual in accordance

to their own experience.

Create an anomaly in the visuals so it can

grab the attention of the young adults.

There are many ways to create a visual

anomaly, but one of them is using

figurative language.

Hopefully, Hamid’s way of creating heritage

preservation solution can be duplicated to visualize

other folktales. By understanding how a member of

the young adults preserve the heritage for

themselves, people in creative industries, educators

and cultural critics can develop more ways to

preserve the nation’s heritage.

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