Indonesian photographer Hardi Budi describes the camera as “a medium to express my imagination, ideas and emotions into pictures.” The artist’s surreal and dreamlike works take viewers on a journey into the absurd. Women climb out of neon green washing machines, surrounded by huge pink bubbles. Elsewhere, a figure is draped across the bar of a basketball hoop, the net stuffed with clouds. This is our world, but not as we know it.
The images are flooded with oversaturated colours and clean lines; the overall sense is of a place having been heightened and sharpened. Budi’s playful oeuvre is about embracing life, in all of its technicolour. The series Life is Bubble Gum is, according to Budi, a metaphor for how “life is like bubblegum, sweet, chewy and full of surprises. It can lose it’s flavour if you don’t keep chewing, and you should explore the different tastes life has to offer.”
Budi has won more than 200 awards around the world, including being featured in the Sony World Photography Award. His work has been published in Forbes and Vogue, as well as part of Shanghai International Photo Festival, Siena International Photo Exhibition and Gauting International Photoweek.
All images courtesy of the artist.
