Iconic photo of Rifles in the Mentawais. Photo: John Barton
For surfers traveling to Indonesia, the ultimate souvenir returning home is a handful of memories of solid time in the tube, charging overhead waves, and, of course, the photos to prove it. Outfitted with GoPros and impressive lenses, there’s a crowd of surfers who travel across Indonesia as if it were a theme park. Tourism, however, should also be used for social good.
Take Bali, for example. The local culture is caught in a rip current of tourism and dragged out to the point of near exploitation. Similarly, the majority of surf tourism in the Mentawai Islands is by charter boat, where each surf break is like a ride at an amusement park. What’s different here is that travelers may never actually step foot on land and interact with the local community. While some might argue this is a good thing for the local people, one can argue that this lack of cross-cultural interaction inhibits locals from benefitting economically and culturally. The local culture remains on the shore, but much like the plastic and garbage that washes up onto the beach, so does the affect of this kind of surf tourism.
This doesn’t sit so well with us. We believe surf tourism is a powerful tool that can be used for social good at the grassroots level and beyond. After collaborating on the documentary film Beyond the Surface, I realized the power of filmmaking as a platform for youth to communicate their thoughts and ideas. It has been especially effective working with impoverished coastal communities that have a small surf community but are far away from the surf industry.
Beyond the Surface International partnered with the Lobitos Cinema Project (LCP) after attending the organization’s workshop on participatory audiovisual filmmaking. Together, the BTSI and LCP created Coast 2 Coast, a youth-driven participatory visual and media arts series of workshops for ocean conservation in local coastal communities worldwide. The project is now a movement across marginalized coastal communities worldwide.
Coast 2 Coast was lucky enough to spend one week in the Mentawai community of Mapadegat with A Liquid Future, the Balinese Children of Bina Ekklesia orphanage, and Soul Surf Project Bali.
As part of our workshop in the Mentawais, we painted the first mural in the community (designed by the local kids). Participants learned how to take photos (underwater, on the beach, and in the community) and played music, surfed, and fished. We learned about the issues facing the community from the rise of unsustainable tourism to the negative consequences of climate change. This video is a summary of our time in the Mentawais, and it’s meant to call on positive action to facilitate more opportunities for grassroots fishing communities to speak up for their rights to protect their livelihoods.
In Bali, our workshop participants made a stop-motion video on a traditional Balinese medicinal drink at the ROLE Foundation, an eco-learning center on sustainable farming practices and environmental conservation.
If any artists, videographers, photographers, animators, or filmmakers are interested in facilitating workshops, visit coast2coastproject.org or email coast2coast.equipo@gmail.com.
