By: Masayu Yulien Vinanda

Jakarta (12/02)-Enhancing environmental education as one of the goals of the Year of Tiger 2010 campaign, WWF-Indonesia organized Wonder Eyes Photo Exhibition for two days, starting on Friday (12/02) to Saturday (13/02) in Taman Menteng, Central Jakarta. This wildlife and nature photography initiated by well known Japanese photo journalistHikaru Nagatake displayed dozens of photos taken by Indonesian children.
A talkshow titled “Wonder Eyes: Sumatra di Balik Lensa” (literally meaning Sumatra behind the Lens) presented the Wonder Eyes iniatiator Hikaru Nagatake, professional photographer Jerry Aurum, and WWF-Indonesia communication officer for Sumatra program Dyah Eka Rini preceded the exhibition.

Wonder Eyes is a creative activity for children using photography as the medium to give messages. Based in Japan, the participants are children in the age of 6 to 16. The children use simple camera to take photos of their daily life. Collaborating with WWF Japan and WWF-Indonesia, on 23 October 2009, for 10 days, Wonder Eyes was conducted in Sumatra. Two National Parks with high biodiversity in Sumatra, Bukit Barisan Selatan (Lampung) and Tesso Nilo (Riau) hosted the project.
The 50 year-old female photo journalist said, through this creative activity integrating communication, art, and documentation, children had chances to find something new, to know themselves, their culture and their society.
“They are very honest and genuine. From the photos they have taken, we can understand situation and condition they are facing. For instance, when I visited Mozambique which is in conflict, most photos captured people with their social economy conflict. Then I visited Amazon, almost all photos told us about the beauty of nature. What interest me is, it was different in Indonesia. All elements were all there. Social, economy, and biodiversity. Much variations. Incredible!” Hikaru said.

At the same ocassion, Indonesian photographer Jerry Aurum who was assigned as Wonder Eyes ehibition curator explained that photography played an important role for delivering campaign message. “Photography can be an effective medium for any campaign activities. The essence of photography itself is not only the photos, furthermore it’s about how the photos can be useful, how public can see and enjoy the photos. So, our task doesn’t finish yet after the photos have been produced. Supporting stories and media strengthening the visual message from the photos have to be specially created. This what the campaigners should consider in order to make the campaign successful and effective,” Jerry said.
Besides building up appreciation toward Indonesian nature through photography among children and people living near conservation area, Wonder Eyes exhibition is expected to support promotional activities and enhance public awareness regarding Sumatran tiger and its habitat linking to the Year of Tiger 2010 campaign in Indonesia.

To appreciate children photographer participating in Wonder Eyes, WWF-Indonesia and the non-profit photography project awarded certificate of achievement and gave digital camera to two photographers whose photos were picked as favourite photos in a polling conducted a week before the exhibition. They were Prasetyo, third grade student from SDN 3 Sedayu, Lampung, who took picture of a school boy standing alone in the landslide and Lucky, a highschool student from SMA (Senior High School) Ukui, Riau through his photo “Helikopter Merahku (literally meaning My Red Helicopter).” Lucky’s photo capturing a red dragonfly perching on the small branch showed us the high biodiversity of Riau.