Aluk To Dolo

‘Aluk To Dolo’ shows how a family history became intertwined with the colonial history of the former Dutch East Indies. The spread of Christianity as a new faith was received with mixed feelings on Sulawesi, home of the Toraja people. Traditional feasts and rites were banned in return for education, churches, and medical care. Almost a century later, Ringel Goslinga (NL) meets the Toraja of today and learns about the local customs and objects that still play a role in their culture. What began as a photographic research into the interface between ancestor worship and missionary work, gradually deepened into a study of almost extinct animistic patterns and traditional weaving forms. In the process, Goslinga learned the ‘language’ of weaving and sought to record these customs and traditions before they fall into oblivion.