France and Indonesia are strengthening their cultural ties through a joint photo exhibition of their countries’ traditional boats.

The exhibition, jointly hosted by the France Culture Center at Surabaya and the House of Sampoerna Gallery, features two photographers: Paul Piollet and Patrick Box.

Patrick Box’s photos focus on traditional French boats, mainly from the harbor of Marseille, while Paul Piollet focuses on traditional Indonesian boats, particularly those from eastern Indonesia.

Paul Piollet fell in love with traditional Indonesian sailing boats after moving to Indonesia in 1970 with an oil drilling company. He spent 38 years writing documentaries about the traditional boats and their craftsmen.

[Paul Poillet, Photographer]:
“The Indonesia traditional boat construction is very artistic and has high art value. I’m very impressed with the professionalism and experiences of the boat makers, particularly those from Madura.”

Organizers hope that the exhibition will stimulate interest in preserving the craft of traditional boat building as a valuable inheritance.

[Ina Silas, General Manager, House of Sampoerna]:
“I suppose we are not late. Those traditional boats are the inheritance of our nation. They are beautiful and artistic. We hope the government will pay more attention so that this beautiful inheritance should be preserved.”

The exhibition runs until February 5th.

NTD, Surabaya, Indonesia.