After my visit to Lake Toba back in July, I was really thrilled when I found out about the interesting stories behind traditional houses from the locals. The Jabu house, native to the Batak Clan is usually mounted with bull heads to indicate social status of the tribe. The house is viewed as sacred, carved with intaglio geckos to cast spirits away. The huge rooftops are also purposed for crops storage, ventilation, and a warm family gathering, all designed with the backwoods knowledge of the indigenous tribe. Unfortunately very few of these amazing architecture structures are left with deforestation and expansion of the city folks.
Around the same time, I was also watching Hayao Miyazaki's Pom Poko where a bunch of tanuki (Japanese Racoon dogs) tries to survive the vicissitudes of life when industrialization starts to kick in. It pains me to put myself in the tanuki's position, having to fight a greater force just to live and survive. And Miyazaki crafted this in such a creative manner, drawing inspiration from the ancient Japanese mythology of tanuki's transformation and summoning abilities. In any case, I feel that there's a shared universal feeling about the rustic village charm, an atmosphere no concrete can ever replicate. So I decided to give some twist to the traditional houses in Indonesia and give them a dose of character and modernity. Done in Photoshop CS4 and Wacom Intuos 4.
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