On the effects of reclamation projects along the coast of Makassar
Featuring works by Aziziah Diah Aprilya (Indonesia)
Recipient of the 7th Objectifs Documentary Award, Emerging Category
Mentored by Jessica Lim
4 April to 18 May 2025
Lower Gallery 2, Objectifs
Free admission
Opening | 4 Apr 2025, 12pm – 7pm
Artist Talk: Aziziah Diah Aprilya – Collecting the Clams
Sat 5 Apr 2025, 1pm – 2pm | Objectifs Workshop Space (register here)
Mattude is a project where I document the effects of reclamation projects along the coast of Makassar, my hometown in South Sulawesi in Indonesia. Mattude – a local term which means “collecting the clams” – has also come to represent my way of collecting and sharing stories about the resilience of the coastal women of Makassar.
The Makassar city government’s reclamation plans echoes similar developments throughout Indonesia. Reclamation in Makassar started in the late 1990s with road construction, then housing areas, flats, hotels, malls, a new port, and more. To date, 209 hectares of land have been reclaimed, and it is expected that thousands more hectares will be created along the west and north of Makassar’s coastline. The Makassar City Spatial Plan anticipates that reclamation will expand 26% of the city area.
Before reclamation began, the coast of Makassar was a lively fishing community where people could get various types of fish, clams and crabs. For the coastal women, the sea was a means of livelihood, a shared social space, a playground for their children, and a sacred place for rituals.
According to indigenous coastal beliefs, ancestors are thought to live in the water in various forms. There are crocodiles, snakes, dolphins, fish, centipedes, they say. In Bugis and Makassar culture, many still believe that each person has twin crocodiles. We call these ancestors ‘Nene’ or grandmother. During certain celebrations, offerings must be lowered into the sea or river as a sign of gratitude to the grandmother, ancestors, and nature. These rituals are said to prevent bad luck and disaster, and are led by women.
As reclamation continues, the livelihoods and practices of coastal communities have come increasingly under threat. They have lost touch with coastal creatures and tide changes. They are losing their physical and spiritual relationship to the sea.
Since 2017, the coastal women of Makassar have gathered as a means of survival and resistance. They organize protests against the reclamation, and find other ways of making a living. As the excavators reclaim the coast, these women seek to reclaim their own narratives.
About the Artist
Aziziah Diah Aprilya (b.1997), also known as Zizi, is an Indonesian photographer, writer, and art and cultural practitioner based in Makassar, South Sulawesi. Her works often explore environmental, social-cultural, and women issues, and she is also interested in stories about food, rituals, and mythologies. Zizi’s work has been exhibited in Jakarta, Solo, Yogyakarta, and Makassar, and she recently published her first photobook, Got Your Back (SOKONG! Publisher, 2024).
In Makassar, she works closely with urban studies collective, art communities, and literacy groups. Zizi is part of Diversify Photo and Women Photograph and is frequently involved in film production as a still and behind-the-scenes photographer.
About the Mentor
Jessica Lim is currently the director of Angkor Photo Festival & Workshops (APFW), a non-profit association based in Cambodia. For most of her professional life, she has worked to provide support and opportunities to visual storytellers in the majority world. Her move to Cambodia built on her previous experience with Drik Picture Library in Dhaka, Bangladesh, a media organisation dedicated to advocating for social equality, where she served as a news and photo editor and photographer liaison. She majored in journalism and graduated from the Nanyang Technological University of Singapore in 2006.
Jessica is currently based in Siem Reap, Cambodia, where on any given day there is a good chance of meeting water buffalos.
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Supported by
About the Objectifs Documentary Award
The Objectifs Documentary Award champions Objectifs’ mission to broaden perspectives through image making, by supporting original voices in visual storytelling in Singapore and the wider region. The Award enables photographers to work on new or existing projects, encouraging them to tell stories about their native communities. It welcomes different creative approaches to non-fiction storytelling, from conventional documentary photography to visual experiments.
About the Truthseeker Foundation
The Truth Seeker Foundation believes that education and enlightenment are the best ways to address many of the social issues we face today. Amongst the many causes the Foundation supports, it advocates for raising awareness of social and environmental issues through photography.
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