My Own Words: Sharrona Valezka
Jakarta-based fashion media practitioner
‘Niskala’, 2020. Photography and styling by Sharrona Valezka.
In my final year at the BA(Hons) Fashion Media and Industries programme at LASALLE College of the Arts, I decided to focus on exploring Indonesian culture for my graduation project. The initial idea stemmed from a virtual concert I saw during the pandemic lockdown. The performance combined Indonesian singer Kunto Aji’s contemporary pop tunes with instruments from a keroncong orchestra, a traditional music style that was brought by traders to port cities in the archipelago during the colonial period. A local rendition of Portuguese music, keroncong is a form of acculturation to Western culture that has since been recognised as a part of Indonesian heritage. Therefore, when it was adapted into a more contemporary form in the performance, it established a unique cultural hybridity that not only merged Eastern and Western elements but also traditional and modern aspects.
Kunto Aji ‘Mantra Mantra Keroncong’ virtual concert visual. Image courtesy of Projek Agni.
I find these layers of juxtaposing elements as a creative way in reinterpreting Indonesian culture and I was curious to see how this cultural hybridity could be applied in the context of fashion. Thus, this formed the foundation for my project. In my research, I made use of the resources I could access in Singapore as I was not able to return to Indonesia due to the pandemic-related travel restrictions. These included browsing through archives at the National Library and visiting ‘Fashion Revolution: Chinese dress from the late Qing to 1976’, an exhibition at the Asian Civilisations Museum’s Fashion and Textiles Gallery. After five months of developing the concept, I created a publication that aimed to retell the Indonesian cultural heritage through a contemporary lens by using fashion images as a medium of communication. Titled ‘Niskala’, which means “intangible” in Indonesian, the publication adopts an identity that strikes a balance between Eastern and Western fashion influences, as well as traditional and contemporary aspects.
Visual research of ‘Niskala’. Image courtesy of Sharrona Valezka.
Concept and visual research board of ‘Human Puppets’. Image courtesy of Sharrona Valezka.
‘Niskala’ cover image. Image courtesy of Sharrona Valezka.
For instance, one of the publication’s editorial spreads, “Human Puppets” took elements from the Javanese and Balinese theatrical performance of wayang wong, where the performers of the show take over the puppet’s role instead of using carved leather figures in the traditional wayang kulit, and the visual reference from Australian artist Sally Smart’s exhibition, ‘The Choreography of Cutting (The Pedagogical Puppet Project)’. Smart’s body of work reframed and refigured the historical avant-garde dance company, Ballets Russes through collages of writings, drawings, pinned assemblages of disjointed body parts, and cuts of textiles. Ultimately, ‘Niskala’ allowed me to dive deeper into my cultural roots and was a satisfying culmination of my studies.
‘Human Puppets’, 2020. Photography, styling and digital collage by Sharrona Valezka. Image courtesy of the artist.
Flipbook video preview of ‘Niskala’. Video courtesy of Sharrona Valezka.
After graduation, I returned to Jakarta and started working as a fashion stylist and producer for MJ Office Team, a multi-creative agency helmed by stylist and creative director Marshella Jastine, specialising in styling, graphic design, and spatial design. There was no typical workday for me. Sometimes, my day would start early in a studio prepping garments and set design for an eight-hour campaign shoot. On other days I would find myself running errands, which included picking up or returning loaned items from stores, fittings with talents and conducting a location recce, to name a few.
Behind the scenes of PILLAR’s F/W 23 campaign, 2023. Image courtesy of Sharrona Valezka.
Set design for KALA Studio Enchanted campaign, 2021. Image courtesy of Sharrona Valezka.
In between those days, when I did not have any prior engagements planned, I would usually head to the office to attend virtual meetings with clients, create concepts and mood boards, as well as take on more tedious but necessary tasks such as managing inventory and planning budget sheets. Our office, a compact studio apartment located in Jakarta’s CBD district, was an intimate working space I shared with a small-knit team of five other colleagues: another fashion stylist, a spatial designer, and two graphic designers.
TOTON x IKYK Raya 2022 campaign featuring Fatia from Ivy Models. Photography by Hilarius Jason, styling by Marshella Jastine and MJ Office Team, makeup by Make Over Team. Image courtesy of TOTON and IKYK.
Sejauh Mata Memandang ‘Baur’ campaign for Jakarta Fashion Week 2023 featuring Laura Basuki. Photography by Hilarius Jason, styling by Marshella Jastine and MJ Office Team, and makeup by Cindy Giovanny. Image courtesy of Sejauh Mata Memandang.
With a diverse pool of clients we worked with, the projects I had to juggle varied. To recap a week, I worked on a fashion campaign for Sejauh Mata Memandang’s newest collection and the next day, I was shopping for fresh produce at a supermarket to prepare for a food styling photoshoot for PÒ SupperKlab, a contemporary Chinese restaurant and bar. Before the week was over, I was working on another still-life campaign for fragrance brand Normal Estate, where I had to create set props out of clay and visit our go-to florist to pick out some fresh flowers for the photo shoot.
Normal Estate still-life campaign, 2023. Photography by Thomas Sito, styling by Marshella Jastine and MJ Office Team. Image courtesy of Normal Estate.
PÒ SupperKlab food styling campaign, 2022. Photography by Hilarius Jason, styling by Marshella Jastine and MJ Office Team. Image courtesy of PÒ SupperKlab.
Decor and set design styling for ‘Raisa: Kutukan’ photo booth at GBK, 2023. Styling by Marshella Jastine and MJ Office Team. Image courtesy of Sharrona Valezka.
Although the role of a fashion stylist and producer was exactly what I expected it to be, the biggest change I felt from being a student to becoming an emerging practitioner was the shift in priorities. In fashion school, I was given the freedom to find my artistic style and maximise creative explorations, whereas in the professional industry, practicality became of utmost importance. In essence, clients wanted maximal effort with minimal budget. Working with tight deadlines to create concepts and moodboards that would appeal to the clients was a challenge that I often took on.
A project that stood out would be ‘Refleksi’, an editorial series for Dewi Magazine’s special printed issue published in line with the offline return of Jakarta Fashion Week 2023. With the overarching theme of ‘Regeneration’, the magazine aimed to highlight a wave of new, emerging fashion practitioners and celebrate intergenerational practices in the industry.
I saw this as an opportunity to create a more narrative-driven image series. During a brainstorming session, my teammate and I reflected on our shared upbringing as Chinese-Indonesians and how it played a significant part in shaping our identities. We reminisced about the times when our families used to bring us to the city’s Chinatown district of Glodok, an important cultural centre built in the Dutch colonial era. In an attempt to attract more visitors, the area went through a few phases of revitalisation, though the original style of architecture remained mostly intact. Taking this as an inspiration, our editorial spread was an artistic reinterpretation of “coming home” to one’s roots, capturing the notion of regeneration through glimpses of domestic life in a Chinese-Indonesian neighbourhood.
Location recce at Petak Sembilan Market, Glodok. Image courtesy of Sharrona Valezka.
Location recce at Petak Sembilan Market, Glodok. Image courtesy of Sharrona Valezka.
Shot by British photographer Martin Westlake at Petak Sembilan, a bustling street market in Glodok, we carried out the photoshoot at several locations, including the main roads of the market, a compact noodle shop owned by an elderly couple and an unoccupied wooden house with a preserved Chinese-Indonesian architecture style lent to us by a local resident.
‘Refleksi’, an editorial spread for Dewi Magazine ‘Regenerasi’ issue 2022, featuring Nafa from Who Knows Models. Photography by Martin Westlake, styling by Marshella Jastine and MJ Office Team, makeup by Yosefina Yustiani, hair by Cosmelynn. Image courtesy of Dewi Magazine.
‘Refleksi’, an editorial spread for Dewi Magazine’s Jakarta Fashion Week 2023 issue featuring Nafa from Who Knows Models. Photography by Martin Westlake, styling by Marshella Jastine and MJ Office Team, makeup by Yosefina Yustiani, hair by Cosmelynn. Image courtesy of Dewi Magazine.
It was such satisfaction when I finally saw the images printed in the magazine as it felt different than viewing them digitally. I was glad to carry out creative explorations on the concept, and infuse a bit of my personal narrative into it.
My time at MJ Office Team was a great learning experience, and a significant starting point to advance my practice. The projects I carried out gave me the opportunity to collaborate with emerging practitioners alike, and learn more about the process that goes behind the scenes in the local fashion industry.
‘Niskala’ and ‘Refleksi’ explored more of my own Indonesian culture, and my current role as the content manager of Fashion & Market has allowed me to expand my cultural landscape to the extent of Southeast Asia. As a multimedia platform featuring the interdisciplinary practices of fashion communities in the region, hearing stories from various practitioners about what inspires them and gaining insights into their creative processes have opened up new perspectives. For one, I have noticed that in spite of their diverse backgrounds, most of them share the same goal of connecting with their cultural identities and keeping them alive through their respective practices, which is an aim I share.
Fashion & Market ‘Dialogues’ and ‘Material & Visual Stories’ features by Sharrona.
I wish to contribute to preserving not only my own culture, but other cultures in Southeast Asia by uncovering more stories and crafting connections through both my writings and styling projects. Moving forward, although I am always looking forward to new opportunities to learn and explore, I am currently taking a slow-paced approach to my practice and making the most of the process, while simultaneously preparing to pursue my postgraduate studies next year. As of now, I dedicate most of my time to growing FAM with the hopes of playing a part in putting the regional fashion industry in global view.
About the Writer
Sharrona Valezka is a Jakarta-based fashion media practitioner with a BA(Hons) in Fashion Media and Industries from LASALLE College of the Arts, where she graduated in 2021. She is currently Content Manager at Fashion & Market. Through her works, she hopes to discover and explore new perspectives on Southeast Asian fashion, art and culture.