Resource Spotlight | “Tanimbar Maluku: The Unique Moluccan Photographs of Petrus Drabbe” by Petrus Drabbe, Nico de Jonge, and Toos van Dijk

 

Picture no. 2: Father Drabbe (second from the left) and his MSC colleague Mgr. Aerts in conversation with some village heads on the island of Fordate, Tanimbar archipelago, in 1922.
© Nationaal Museum van Wereldculturen

 
 
 

Tanimbar Maluku

The Unique Moluccan Photographs of Petrus Drabbe

 

by Petrus Drabbe, Nico de Jonge, & Toos van Dijk

 
 
 
 

Published by Periplus Editions.

 
 

Picture no. 7: Stone statue of the village guardian of Sangliat Dol, at the foot of the village stairway.

Picture no. 6: Young man wearing a puppet-sere, a head decoration made from pieces of European cotton, garlanded with cock feathers.

 

Picture no. 5: Young man with golden ear and breast pendants. In his hand, a famous family heirloom, mas kasi, ‘snake gold’.

 

Picture no. 4: Old woman with kmwene, ear pendants in filigree work, which are linked together by a string of beads.

 
 

Picture no. 11: Old man with lelbutir, golden ear pendants, a golden breast pendant and a wangpar, a necklace of white cowry shells.

 
 

Picture no. 10: The great drum is struck while a woman performs the sabir dance, imitating a flying bird.

 
 
 

Father Petrus Drabbe and the reconstruction of traditional Tanimbarese culture

by Nico de Jonge

 
 
 
In the Indonesian archipelago, for a long time, Dutch missionaries played a curious role. On the one hand, on many islands, they offered social support in the form of medical supplies and education. On the other hand, as ‘religious innovators’, they often rid ethnic groups of their ancient traditions, based on local beliefs. In the southern Moluccas, in many places, we saw this process of construction and destruction, in which the worship of ancestors was one of the main targets (see picture no 1). Especially bitter instances were islands such as Leti and Babar, where until halfway into the previous century – usually on Christian holy days like Christmas – in several villages, artfully crafted and often beloved ancestral statues were collected and ritually burned.

One of the missionaries who must have been aware of this delicate dual role was Petrus Drabbe (1887-1970). As a member of the Roman Catholic order of the Sacred Heart (MSC – based in the city of Tilburg, the Netherlands), in 1915, after a three year stay in the Phillipines, he was sent to eastern Indonesia, where he worked consecutively on the Tanimbar islands (from 1915 to 1935) and Dutch New Guinea, nowadays West Papua (from 1935 to 1960). In Tanimbar especially, the demise of traditional society - caused by the intensifying contacts with the outside world, including of course the Roman Catholic Church – pained him deeply, moving him to start a large-scale ethnographical project with the aim to “describe as much as possible of the life of the Tanimbarese as it was before the Dutch administration influenced it” in 1927.1 As would become clear years later, there was an important yet unspoken higher purpose to this. Drabbe wanted to capture the ‘uniqueness’ of the old traditional culture or, in a more contemporary formulation, to describe the ‘ethnic identity’ of the pre-colonial Tanimbarese. By doing so, possibly, he aimed to compensate – as much as possible – for his own contribution to the transformation.
 

Picture no. 1:  A ‘pile’ of traditional religious objects, assembled by Dutch Roman Catholic missionaries in Tanimbar in the early 20th century. (Archives MSC)

 
 

Drabbe prepared his reconstruction project with great care. In 1927, after living on several islands in the Tanimbar archipelago for twelve years, he took off to the Netherlands to develop a plan of action together with Amsterdam ethnologist J.C. van Eerde. In 1928, he returned to Tanimbar for a year-and-a-half long round trip on horseback, for which he had received special permission and a grant from the Dutch authorities. Furthermore – and this was rather unique – he had managed to persuade his superiors in the Netherlands to give him professional camera equipment. In the end, the project resulted in Het leven van den Tanémbarees (The life of the Tanimbarese), a book counting more than 400 pages published in 1940. Not only the scope, but also the content impresses: countless ancient and frequently almost forgotten customs and habits were described, local languages recorded, religious views and myths that have since vanished documented, characteristic kinship relationships mapped, and there were many black and white pictures placing focus on traditional material culture.

Of the great quantity of data collected by Drabbe, it is without doubt the photographs which appeal most to the imagination. Particularly impressive is the series of very sharp portraits in which the Tanimbarese appear in the widest variety of attire – sometimes bizarrely to modern eyes – with fabulous headdresses, beautiful jewelry, and great plugs of tobacco in their mouths. In many instances, the photographs show that Drabbe was consciously engaged with capturing cultural manifestations. He often had people pose for him, and scenes were often staged. Beside providing wonderful portraits, this also led to misunderstandings. Because of this ‘stage managing’, various traditions which. at the time of Drabbe’s stay in Tanimbar had for long belonged to the past, appear to have continued until far into the twentieth century. Illustrative of this is the ‘stage-managed’ turning of ivory bracelets from elephant tusk (see picture no. 9). Drabbe had the pictured man turn a piece of the trunk of a banana tree instead of ivory. Seen in its entirety, however, Drabbe’s body of photographs forms a fascinating and valuable document which is not only of ethnographical importance, but is also of great artistic value. For this reason, a selection of the best photographs was published in 1995 by Periplus Editions in a small booklet intended for a wider audience. Included in Tanimbar, the unique Moluccan photographs of Petrus Drabbe (with an introduction of his life and work) are around sixty stunning photographs, directly printed from Drabbe’s original glass plates which were restored specifically for this purpose.

 
 
 

Picture no. 9: ‘Stage-managed’ turning of ivory bracelets from elephant tusk. Drabbe had the man turn a piece of the trunk of a banana tree instead of ivory.

 
 
 
It goes without saying that Drabbe’s project – the start of which is already almost a century ago – has been of great significance. Firstly, of course, for the Tanimbarese to whom he has given a beautiful historical overview of their remarkable culture – a document that still today proves its worth every day. Recently, for instance, the beautifully carved stone prow of the dancing place in the shape of a boat, in the old village of Sangliat Dol on the island of Yamdena, ‘vanished’. Although doubtlessly of poor comfort to the population, fortunately, Drabbe captured the old situation on camera (see picture no. 8). Aside from this, his work has been an inspiration to many others, especially scientists and photographers. Two examples of this, we would like to mention here. Between 1978 and 1980, American anthropologist Susan McKinnon conducted field work in Tanimbar where, for her research into traditional social structure, she leaned heavily on Drabbe’s work, because of the since then significantly progressed modernization. A notable merit was that this propelled his voluminous and excellent monograph before the eyes of an international (English speaking) audience. Additionally, around 1970, ‘mission photographer’ G.J. Draaijers sought to portray Tanimbarese cultural expressions in the typical Drabbe style (including people posing in traditional clothing), this time using modern color photography. Some of his striking photographs would end up being used as promotional materials in the fledgling, yet quickly developing Moluccan tourist industry.2 In this way, the ‘uniqueness’ of the Tanimbarese culture found its way to an audience beyond what Drabbe could have ever imagined.
 
 
 

Picture no. 8: Dancing place in the shape of a boat, in the village of Sangliat Dol.

Notes

1 Quote of Drabbe from the foreword of Het leven van den Tanémbarees, published by E.J. Brill, Leiden, The Netherlands, 1940

2 The photographs appeared, among other places, in postcards and tourist brochures, such as the Guide to Maluku, a publication by the Maluku Tourist Development Board in 1977 (see also picture no. 15)
 
 

Picture no. 12: Photograph made by G.J. Draaijers – Woman with golden pendant on her forehead. (Rumphius Library, Ambon)

Picture no. 13: Photograph made by G.J. Draaijers – Man with golden pendant and old wangpar necklace, completely soot-blackened. (Rumphius Library, Ambon)

 

Picture no. 14: Photograph made by G.J. Draaijers – Young woman performing a traditional dance. (Rumphius Library, Ambon)

Picture no. 15: Photograph, made by Father Draaijers, published in 1977 in Guide to Maluku.

 
 
 
 

Ancestral Shrine Figure | Lamiaha
© Rautenstrauch-Joest Museum | Germany

 
 
 

Disclaimer: This is not a sponsored post. Art of the Ancestors does not receive a commission should any of our readers purchase the aforementioned book. Art of the Ancestors is a strictly non-commercial educational platform and has no vested interest in the professional activities of the author listed above.

 
 
News 14Nico de JongeArt of the Ancestors, Steven G. Alpert, Asian Art, Island Southeast Asian Art, Oceanic Art, Asiatica, Ethnographica, Ethnographic Art, Art Collection, Fine Art, Primitive Art, Indonesian Art, Tribal Art, Eyes of the Ancestors, Dr. Reimar Schefold