Singgah :
everything that led to this room
Captured by Mathilde Castéran @materuda_
October '25, Denshu Hirakushi House and Atelier, Ueno
Singgah comes from Indonesian and Malay, meaning to pause somewhere on a long journey. Not to arrive, not to leave. Just to rest, briefly.
Do you remember the photoshoot I did last summer, The Harpist and the Sea? Mathilde and I enjoyed our creative process together so much that we decided to do another shoot while she was still in Japan. This time, a different concept: what if we photographed the harp with a kebaya, inside a traditional Japanese house?
We chose the Denchu Hiragushi House and Atelier in Ueno. The house was the former residence of Denchu Hiragushi, a sculptor who shaped the course of modern wood carving across the Meiji, Taisho, and Showa periods. He is known for capturing human emotion and movement in his work. Built in 1919, it served as both his studio and family home until 1970. We were lucky; only a few visitors that day, so the space was quietly ours.
The original concept was a blend of two cultures, Indonesia and Japan. But after seeing the results, I realised it was so much more than that. So many things had found their way into a single frame: the kebaya and batik I wore, with their Indonesian and Malay roots; the Japanese house, more than a century old; the harp which is an instrument dating back to ancient Sumer and Egypt around 4000 BC, shaped over millennia by various cultures in China, Ireland, Europe, America; and a French photographer holding it all together through her lens.
None of these elements were supposed to be together. The probability feels almost absurd. And yet, against all odds, they sat in perfect harmony. It is as if they had all, serendipitously, singgah in the same room at the same time. Perhaps this is what the Japanese call 縁 (en): the invisible thread that connects people and things not by plan, but by fate. It reminds me of the night I met Mathilde, or the day I joined my elementary school orchestra and first touched a harp.
I am so grateful for, and in awe of, the randomness of things.
