In Sungai Gelam, Muaro Jambi, traditional brick-making remains part of a small-scale rural industry where handmade clay bricks are produced manually using wood-fired kilns and labor-intensive production methods.

Stacks of clay bricks, smoke-filled kilns, ash, and heat form part of the workers’ everyday environment. The process unfolds slowly through molding, drying, arranging, and firing — each stage requiring physical endurance and close attention to changing conditions.

Through this visual archive, the brick kiln is observed not only as a production site, but also as a working landscape shaped by repetitive gestures, environmental conditions, and human interaction with natural materials.

Rather than direct reportage, these photographs observe the atmosphere inside the traditional brick kiln through smoke, shadow, heat, and fragments of physical movement.

Traditional Brick Making in Sungai Gelam

Smoke rises from a traditional brick kiln in Sungai Gelam, Muaro Jambi, where brick-making continues through manual labor and wood-fired combustion.

Brick kilns, smoke, and layers of dried clay shape the working landscape inside the traditional production area.

Heat, smoke, and clay textures dominate the atmosphere inside the traditional brick kiln.

Manual Labor Inside the Brick Kiln

A brick worker stands inside the kiln area surrounded by smoke, ash, and drying clay bricks.

Wood is continuously arranged inside the kiln to maintain combustion during the firing stage. The temperature rises intensely while workers move through narrow spaces filled with smoke, embers, and layers of burned material.

Physical labor becomes part of the firing process as workers carry wood into the kiln.

Workers continue the manual brick-making process through coordinated physical routines and repeated movement.

Much of the work happens without prolonged conversation. Gestures, movement, and the transfer of materials repeat continuously, forming a rhythm understood collectively through experience and routine.

Smoke, Heat, and Traditional Brick Production

Smoke, shadow, and physical movement merge inside the traditional brick-burning environment in Sungai Gelam.

Clay gradually transforms into hardened bricks through a long process shaped by fire, weather conditions, and human endurance. Each stage leaves visible traces on both the working space and the workers themselves.

A worker moves through the remaining heat and dust inside the traditional brick kiln area.

Inside the traditional brick kiln, labor produces more than hardened clay. The space also preserves traces of heat, repetition, physical endurance, and everyday life that continue to survive within the industrial landscape of Sungai Gelam, Muaro Jambi.

This project documents a staged performance inspired by Bekarang, a traditional seasonal mass fish-catching practice in Muaro Jambi practiced during the dry season when water levels recede.

Bekarang is practiced as a seasonal collective activity where communities gather to harvest fish from shallow waters in lakes and floodplains. It is guided by customary law, deliberation, mutual cooperation, and shared ecological responsibility.

This project documents the relationship between seasonal ecology, community practice, and collective memory in Muaro Jambi. Through staged documentary photography, Bekarang is interpreted not only as a mass fish-harvesting practice, but also as a cultural system shaped by environmental cycles and social coordination.

Rather than functioning as direct documentation, the images move between gesture, shadow, and disappearance — traces briefly emerging before fading back into darkness.

Traditional fish-catching tools used in Bekarang, a seasonal mass fish-catching practice in Muaro Jambi, Indonesia during the dry season.

A participant sits surrounded by smoke during the Bekarang seasonal mass fish-catching ritual in Muaro Jambi, Indonesia.

Bekarang Tradition and Seasonal River Culture in Muaro Jambi

Seasonal movement during Bekarang, a dry-season mass fish-catching activity in Muaro Jambi, Indonesia.

The movements appear briefly through blur, shadow, and light — never fully fixed, constantly shifting before disappearing again.

Staged Performance and Collective Memory

Bodies become traces as the seasonal Bekarang performance unfolds in Muaro Jambi, Indonesia, reflecting ecological memory and collective practice.

Smoke and movement slowly disappear into darkness during the Bekarang seasonal performance in Muaro Jambi, Indonesia.

Bekarang, a traditional seasonal mass fish-catching practice from Muaro Jambi, preserves ritual knowledge through collective memory passed across generations in Jambi, Indonesia.

Sekolah Alam Lubuk Pusako

Children walk through the rice fields of Tebat Patah Village during outdoor learning activities organized by Lubuk Pusako Nature School Community.

In Tebat Patah Village, Muaro Jambi, Jambi Province, children walk along narrow dirt paths leading to rice fields instead of classrooms. Carrying curiosity in their hands and mud on their feet, they learn directly from the environment surrounding them. For the children of Sekolah Alam Lubuk Pusako, nature is not just a backdrop — it is part of the learning process itself.

The community-based school was initiated by Ajas and several young people in 2022 through Komunitas Lubuk Pusako, a space focused on environmental and cultural learning. In the middle of rice fields, wetlands, and village life, children are introduced to farming traditions through simple but meaningful experiences.

Ajas introduces children to the surrounding landscape as part of environmental learning activities in Tebat Patah Village, Muaro Jambi.

By touching soil, sowing seeds, and listening to stories from local farmers, children slowly begin to understand where food comes from and how closely human life is tied to the land.

Children touch the soil while learning about the early stages of planting and the relationship between land and food.

A bicycle stands near the fields of Tebat Patah Village, where traditional rural landscapes continue to exist alongside growing industrial development..

Rural Education and Environmental Learning in Muaro Jambi

Rice seeds are prepared before being spread onto the planting medium during the learning session.

Children gather near the rice fields as outdoor learning activities continue in Tebat Patah Village.

Amid this transformation, Ajas and the villagers have become both pioneers and protectors. Through small collective efforts, they try to ensure that the next generation does not grow up disconnected from nature. For them, teaching children about farming is not only about agriculture, but also about memory, identity, and belonging.

Preserving Farming Traditions for the Next Generation

Industrial smoke rises behind the agricultural landscape of Tebat Patah Village, where traditional farming and industrial development now exist side by side.

In a rapidly industrializing environment, Sekolah Alam Lubuk Pusako becomes more than just an outdoor classroom. It is a way of preserving local knowledge and keeping alive a relationship between children and the land beneath their feet — before that connection slowly disappears.

This photo essay documents environmental learning, rural life, and farming traditions at Sekolah Alam Lubuk Pusako in Tebat Patah Village, Muaro Jambi, Jambi Province, Indonesia.

The Remaining Movements