A theatrical dancer on a pristine limestone mountain in East Java: Mohammad Nur Nasikin’s best phone picture

The photographer hopes his image of a father and son practising a traditional Indonesian artform will go some way towards preserving it

Early this summer, in a pristine, limestone mountain range in the East Java province of Indonesia, Mohammad Nur Nasikin met with the father and son pictured here. His aim was to capture a character from a treasured Indonesian theatrical dance and art form called Reog Ponorogo.

“Bujang Ganong is one of the characters in the dance; a young regent who is agile, skilful and clever,” Nasikin explains, “Mr Hanafie, on the left, is a true artist, skilled in many Javanese arts. He’s wearing the traditional costume worn by a Bujang Ganong dancer: a wooden ganong mask, and a bright red waistcoat, a shoulder cloth known as a sembong, and loose‑fitting trousers called katok panji. At his feet is his drummer – his son Tirta, which means ‘water’ in Javanese.”

The energetic movements of the character made it easy to capture a range of shots, Nasikin notes. When he returned home, Nasikin showed his own 12-year-old son, and explained the importance of preserving culture passed from ancestors.

“We must continue to safeguard it for generations to come,” he says. “My hope is that viewers will be interested in learning more about this art form, and our culture, and in that way I will have formed a link between the past and the future.”