On January 24, Yogyakarta-based photographer Jim Allen Abel, also known as Jimbo, passed away at the age of 50.

Born in 1975 in Luwu, Indonesia, Jimbo developed an interest in landscape while studying interior design at the Modern School of Design Yogyakarta. He later pursued photography at the Indonesia Institute of the Arts Yogyakarta between 1997 and 2005. In 2002, he co-founded Ruang MES 56, an art collective and nonprofit space focusing on experimental photo-based art, alongside his peers Angki Purbandono, Wimo Ambala Bayang, and Rangga Purbaya.

Approaching landscape not as static phenomena but as unstable and fraught terrains, Jimbo worked across photography and video through what he described as “criticism through the eye,” at times inflected with humor. His practice examined the remnants of history embedded within contemporary environments, tracing how human intervention, urban infrastructure, and natural forces shape these spaces. In his 2019 solo exhibition, “Vertikal Horizon,” at ArtSociates in Bandung, he presented landscapes as social events where artificial structures—building facades, factories, and tenement blocks—stage a contest of power with nature. 

Throughout his career, Jimbo’s work was featured in exhibitions in Indonesia and abroad, including the fifth Makassar Biennale (2023), the Chennai Photo Biennale (2016), and multiple editions of ARTJOG (2018, 2017, 2016, 2015). He was a finalist of the Second Bandung Contemporary Art Awards (2012).

Ashley Cheung is an editorial intern at ArtAsiaPacific.