Benizi Santamaria

Portraits of Work, Prayer and Play

For my first profile I am selecting these 20 images which both describes and depicts my past 15 years of travels through Indonesia\'s vast archipelago. Loosely defined as environmental portraits, both staged and unposed, my photos focus\'s on movement in the ordinary and daily lives of people encapsulating the 3 elements or Work, Prayer and Play; Work in how we earn and make our living, Prayer in describing our spirituality and Play, in how we enjoy our time outside of the former two.

Photographer

Benizi Santamaria

I began my interest in photography back in my teens growing up in Malaysia but grew it as a passion in my travels through Morocco and East Africa in 2007. I took up an interest in the Environmental portrait in during my travels through South India in 2009 and the North East of India and Nepal in 2015. During this time, my surface interest deepened into a passion for people and their stories. Photography and in particular the Environmental Portrait, loosely defined here, became my journal to document my travels. I am still actively travelling, mostly spending a few months a year at least venturing and capturing through the vast archipelago that is Indonesia and The Philippines. I do not see borders. To me, they are just artificial and political boundaries. My photos are about the differences in culture but more so about what we have in common. I am Benizi Santamaria and I am based in Melbourne, Australia

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