Background information, content
"The photo volume 'My Dearest Javanese Concubine' by Italian photographer Luca DESIENNA is a love story of the 21st century. Two social outcasts in far, far Indonesia find a way to love each other regardless of their backgrounds: Tira Yohanes Soepomo, a 48 years old transsexual who identified as female, and Dayang, a throw away person, unemployed with no family." (© Blow Up, 2019)"The two met while living on the streets of the Muslim city of Jogiakarta in Central Java. They shared a life together in a basic six square meter squat that became the centre of their universe. Tira contracted HIV, the deadly virus that hides invisible in the blood, like her ineffable desires and emotions. Dayang loved Tira regardless of the virus; together they shared a lust for life and the courage to be themselves. The couple allowed Luca DESIENNA into their lives and trusted him to make this respectful and intimate portrait of their relationship. The photographs honestly penetrate into the moments of their wild, and sometimes raw love making. It’s a passionate portrait of joy and pain, suffering, and ultimately of Tira’s death." (© Peggy Sue Amison, 2019)
Voices on the book
"A tender and wild love story of two real courageous and vulnerable human beings. It moves from the extreme to the ordinary, from sweet to brutal, and it keeps moving me." (© Michael ACKERMAN)
"A far away intimate universe. A kind of magic." (© Lorenzo CASTORE)
"A story full of vitamins and warm energy." (© Anders PETERSEN)
About Italian photographer Luca DESIENNA
Photo books by Luca DESIENNA
- Ed(s)/Author(s)
- Peggy Amison
- Book design
- Aneta KOWALCZYK
- Format
- Pb. with dust jacket, 14 x 20 x 1,5 cm., 108 pp., 69 ills., text language: English, Ltd. to 300 copies