Summary

I'm writing this blog with 2 ideas in mind: wayang and fashion models in social media.

What role does movement play in your own life or communities that you are part of?

For the first idea, I do not really connect directly with wayang as I'm not involved in any related communities, but the aspective perspective characteristic of the puppet has been a huge influence in my photography, especially to direct poses for the models.

The second idea resonates with me more as I work with fashion models quiet and fashion photography has been a medium of storytelling that I have worked with for the past few years. I encounter many models and notice how their personalities and/or movements could transform flexibly depending on the creative direction, but also still in a 'fashionably' curated way during a photoshoot setting. It also fascinates me that most readers probably interact with the models' works not through the original media that was publishing the editorial that the model was in, but instead through the models' social media.


What movement, practice, tradition, ritual, or performance resonates with you and why?

As a child, I remember visiting the wayang museum and watched a performance of wayang.

I don’t have any particular resonation with wayang until I saw the Ken Arok Rock Opera by Harry Roesli. I saw it online and yet the experience is still visceral, they begin with a gigantic sheet of fabric covering the front stage and there are shadows behind them are dancing. Ken Arok itself is a ruler of Hindu-Buddhist kingdom Singasari in the East Java of Indonesia. Though I have not found any public viewing for this story in wayang format.

Moving on to the second project.

As a photographer, I have done some satirical work on models/influencers presence on social media by creating a fake instagram for that project. I have been fascinated with the society obsession with beauty. There is always a certain facial expression and poses, e.g, smize, that becomes somewhat a code of conduct in the modeling industry. Other implication includes the fashion model being perceived mostly for their personality instead of purely showcasing the clothes (which is the original purpose of modeling). I like to think that the social media of these fashion models become the “clothes” for themselves and not the actual garment.

What are the historical and cultural contexts of your chosen movement?

First project

Wayang is a traditional Javanese theatre, it could refer to the puppet and the performance itself. Wayang is commonly tied with spirituality and rituals. The story often depicts Hindhu epics and mythologies.

Wayang, including Wayang Kulit (leather shadow puppets) and Wayang Golek (wooden rod puppets), became a medium for moral, social, and political storytelling.

Each puppet has different gestures, postures, and movements, which convey personalities, emotions, or social status.

Second project

Traditionally, fashion models existed to showcase clothing for designers. Poses and expressions were heavily curated in magazines, runway shows, and studio photography. Facial expressions and body gestures were tools to convey a "special otherness", elegance, status and brand identity, not the model’s personal identity.

However, the rise of social media platforms (Instagram, TikTok) has transformed modeling. Models became personal brands, performing lifestyle, personality, and curated aesthetics in addition to clothing.

Both projects mirror the ideas that gestures can signal status and identity. The ways wayang's gestures are culturally legible to the audience is syllogy to the models' facial expressions and body poses are to a social media follower.

Which ethnographic methods are relevant to your research and why?

First project

- Observing performance recordings

- Observing real-life performance

- interview with subject

Second project

- Digital ethnography (observing on social media and the Internet)

- interview with subject: why certain poses are favored, how influencers think about their “digital wardrobe, and how self-presentation is strategized and how it has evolved in the past years depending on media/platform (e.g, transitioning from Instagram to TikTok)

- archival -> to compare with gestures/poses from older fashion magazines, to highlight how gestural codes evolve over time

- participatory (mimicking the poses that the models do)

How might this practice be expressed through motion capture?

First project would emphasize on the puppetteer's hands and how it is translated on the models body. May also need to notice that the puppet may only have few joints installed in their body, hence renderring their movement to be specific to the shoulders and the elbows.

The connection of wayang joints are often made from buffalo bone or paper fastener.

Second project would require a photogrammetry capture of the model. I'd use Polycam or Scaniverse. Then, I'd either record a few videos of the model and run them through Rokoko AI OR have them come to the production room in NYU to do on-site mocap. For this project, I'd focus on the body poses but it does not limit the scope to facial expression. The focus is defined with the time constraint and workload in mind.

What permissions and resources do you need to respectfully engage with your subject?

For the first project, I'd like to engage directly with a puppeteer and their own wayang puppet. This will be the first challenge as I have not found any wayang contacts in NYC. An option is to virtually call a puppeteer based in Indonesia (motion capture will be assisted by Rokoko AI), but I'm not sure if the experience

Is your project feasible within the constraints of this class?

The first project might be a bit out of reach at this moment since I have not found any contacts that are working professionally in the wayang field.

However, the second idea might be more feasible as I have connected with an Indonesian fashion model currently in New York City.

Project Outline
For the second project, I'm thinking to record about 9 movements (as usually phone can display 9 photos on a single scroll on Instagram UI) that are based on the Instagram feed of the model that I worked with. The mocap video will be displayed as pseudo Instagram UI on a website. When user clicks on the photo, they can interact with the model body scan as it is in a 3D space.

Self-Note (Not part of the assignment)

As my background is in photography and web development with side interest in music, so I suppose to adapt these into the 3D space, the closest concept would be to use photogrammetry. Though typically photogrammetry is a static medium, I'm interested if it's possible to bring temporality into it through MoCap. Combined with the interest in music, I'm thinking of transcribing the body movement of musicians. With the ethnography context in mind, I'm particularly interested in studying the movement/gestures used to perform music with traditional Indonesian instruments such as gamelan, seruling, gong, etc. Possible extension is to compare gestures from similar instruments across different regions/countries and see how it differs through MoCap study. For example, both metallophonic instruments Javanese saron and Minahasan kolintang could be compared to each other.

Not-so-related references but might be useful in the future

Dynamic Wayang Creation with SKPhysicsJoint - Kezia Gloria (2023)