Mattude by Aziziah Diah Aprilya

Featuring works by Aziziah Diah Aprilya (Indonesia)

Recipient of the 7th Objectifs Documentary Award Emerging Category

Mentored by Jessica Lim

4 April to 18 May 2025

Lower Gallery 2 Objectifs

Free admission

Opening | 4 Apr 2025 12pm – 7pm

Artist Talk: Aziziah Diah Aprilya – Collecting the Clams

Sat 5 Apr 2025 1pm – 2pm | Objectifs Workshop Space (register: https://collecting-the-clams.peatix.com/)

Mattude is a project where I document the effects of reclamation projects along the coast of Makassar my hometown in South Sulawesi in Indonesia. Mattude – a local term which means "collecting the clams" – has also come to represent my way of collecting and sharing stories about the resilience of the coastal women of Makassar.

The Makassar city government's reclamation plans echoes similar developments throughout Indonesia. Reclamation in Makassar started in the late 1990s with road construction then housing areas flats hotels malls a new port and more. To date 209 hectares of land have been reclaimed and it is expected that thousands more hectares will be created along the west and north of Makassar's coastline. The Makassar City Spatial Plan anticipates that reclamation will expand 26% of the city area.

Before reclamation began the coast of Makassar was a lively fishing community where people could get various types of fish clams and crabs. For the coastal women the sea was a means of livelihood a shared social space a playground for their children and a sacred place for rituals.

According to indigenous coastal beliefs ancestors are thought to live in the water in various forms. There are crocodiles snakes dolphins fish centipedes they say. In Bugis and Makassar culture many still believe that each person has twin crocodiles. We call these ancestors 'Nene' or grandmother. During certain celebrations offerings must be lowered into the sea or river as a sign of gratitude to the grandmother ancestors and nature. These rituals are said to prevent bad luck and disaster and are led by women.

As reclamation continues the livelihoods and practices of coastal communities have come increasingly under threat. They have lost touch with coastal creatures and tide changes. They are losing their physical and spiritual relationship to the sea.

Since 2017 the coastal women of Makassar have gathered as a means of survival and resistance. They organize protests against the reclamation and find other ways of making a living. As the excavators reclaim the coast these women seek to reclaim their own narratives.

Presented by Objectifs

Supported by the Truthseeker Foundation

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About the Artist

Aziziah Diah Aprilya (b.1997) also known as Zizi is an Indonesian photographer writer and art and cultural practitioner based in Makassar South Sulawesi. Her works often explore environmental social-cultural and women issues and she is also interested in stories about food rituals and mythologies. Zizi's work has been exhibited in Jakarta Solo Yogyakarta and Makassar and she recently published her first photobook Got Your Back (SOKONG! Publisher 2024).

In Makassar she works closely with urban studies collective art communities and literacy groups. Zizi is part of Diversify Photo and Women Photograph and is frequently involved in film production as a still and behind-the-scenes photographer.

About the Mentor

Jessica Lim is currently the director of Angkor Photo Festival & Workshops (APFW) a non-profit association based in Cambodia. For most of her professional life she has worked to provide support and opportunities to visual storytellers in the majority world. Her move to Cambodia built on her previous experience with Drik Picture Library in Dhaka Bangladesh a media organisation dedicated to advocating for social equality where she served as a news and photo editor and photographer liaison. She majored in journalism and graduated from the Nanyang Technological University of Singapore in 2006.

Jessica is currently based in Siem Reap Cambodia where on any given day there is a good chance of meeting water buffalos.

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About the Objectifs Documentary Award

The Objectifs Documentary Award champions Objectifs' mission to broaden perspectives through image making by supporting original voices in visual storytelling in Singapore and the wider region. The Award enables photographers to work on new or existing projects encouraging them to tell stories about their native communities. It welcomes different creative approaches to non-fiction storytelling from conventional documentary photography to visual experiments.

About the Truthseeker Foundation

The Truth Seeker Foundation believes that education and enlightenment are the best ways to address many of the social issues we face today. Amongst the many causes the Foundation supports it advocates for raising awareness of social and environmental issues through photography.

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Join us at our related exhibitions and events:

Exhibition: The Forests Listen Their Spirits Cry by Gab Mejia

Nature and Spirit: An Artist Talk with Gab Mejia | Sat 5 Apr 2025 2.30pm – 3.30pm at Objectifs Workshop Space

Exhibition: Tubig Alat (Salt Water) by Geela Garcia

Artist talk: Geela Garcia – All life depends on Salt | Sat 5 Apr 2025 4pm – 5pm

Host or Publisher Objectifs - Centre for Photography and Film