Author: Michael Passage

My name is Catherine Loeffen and I am a Wood and temporary tattoo artisan. I have a B.S. degree in Apparel Manufacturing and Management from California Polytechnic University, Pomona. I was born on August 7th, 1979 to the parents of Elisa Solis of Mexican ancestry and Franklin Arthur Loeffen of Dutch-Indonesian descent. I am currently living and working in Los Angeles, CA. I own and run my own business, EternalGlyphics, where I handcraft art made out of wood, as well as free hand temporary tattoos using Henna and Jagua. I have always loved wood art, but specifically looking back to 2004, when I first touched my feet on Indonesian soil (Bali), is where my inspiration for wood art began. I have some artwork on display at a group art show, all inspired by Dutch-Indonesian roots, in Pomona, CA at La Bomba Vintage. Please feel free to browse my website – www.eternalglyphics.com.

My father was born in Bandung, Indonesia in 1950. He left Indonesia to seek refuge in 1957 and went to Holland and then moved to Los Angeles, CA in 1961. He started attending Long Beach State in 1971, where he met my mother. After dating for two years, they were married and had their first child, Marisa, in 1974. Three years later my middle sister, Natalya, was born in 1978. Lastly, my twin sister, Christine and I were born a year and a half later in Monterey Park. Within the first month of my birth our family moved from Pasadena to Altadena, to have more room for my twin and I.

My Oma, Jani Rosmiah Jansen, was born in Tjemahi, Indonesia in 1927. She had 4 children on the island of Java, Myra in 1945, Roy in 1949, my dad in 1950, and then Jessica in 1952; and had her youngest child, Linda in Los Angeles in 1962. Oma first married at the young age of 20 and married two more times over her life time. Her second marriage was to my father’s Dad, Nicodemus Loeffen whom passed away just a few months after my dad was born. Oma met my Opa, Franciscus Jansen, during her early high school years, but the war split them up and they later found each other again before moving to the USA. They married in Los Angeles, CA in 1961 and moved to Dallas, OR in the late 1980s. They were happily married for almost 33 years before my Opa passed away in 1994. Oma then moved to Seal Beach, CA in 1997, to be closer to family and friends, and spent her remaining years there before she laid to rest on January 02, 2017.

Food has forever been a BIG part of my life and although I was raised on Dutch Indonesian and Mexican food, my parents encouraged us to explore other cultures food and my love for food began. I can remember being introduced to Indonesian food by my Oma, hands down the BEST Dutch Indonesian cook I know. Lumpia, Gado Gado (salad), Soto Ayam (chicken dish), Roti Koekoe (sponge cake), Spekkoek (spice cake), Loempia (eggroll), Risolles (dessert), Tjendol (drink dessert) and Kroketjes (beef roll) were dishes I’d always ask her to make for me. It wasn’t until I was in college that I attempted to make my first Indonesian dish, Frikadel Djagoeng (shrimp and corn fritters). My Oma had a strong accent, even after being in the US for so many years, so calling her for a recipe, wasn’t the easiest task. Nor was it easy to find the right ingredients. We had just a few very small Indonesian markets throughout LA, Temple City and Bellflower that we’d find most of the products we needed to get the kitchen smelling like Oma’s house.

Last year, my Dad gifted me a cookbook, Indo Dutch Kitchen Secrets by Jeff Keasberry. Since then my mother and I have attempted to keep the traditional Dutch-Indonesian food in the house by experimenting with several of the recipes in the cookbook and remembering Oma’s style of cooking.

In 2004, for my college graduation gift, my mother suggested a family trip to Indonesia and without hesitation we had our tickets booked and set forth for our 21-hour flight to Bali. During our time there, we visited Ubud, the artist colony, where I fell in love with all the Mahogany wood work. The intricate carvings, wood inlays, furniture and jewelry were breathtaking. The craftsmanship and attention to detail were impeccable. I ended up purchasing so much, I had to buy another suitcase to bring everything back to home with me. My fondest memories from that trip was flying into Bandung, Java, meeting my Great Aunt and her immediate family for the first time and being able to see the street my Dad grew up on and the park he played at as a kid. I plan to take my daughter to Indonesia one day and show her the beautiful landscape of the rice fields, eye opening trees at the monkey forest, aqua marine water of the black sand beaches, intricate architecture of the temples, active volcano, and the majestic mountain views. All that I saw in Indonesia help inspire me in my art until this day, almost 14 years later. I am very proud of my Dutch-Indonesian heritage and I hope to incorporate more and more of this rich culture into my life.

Greetings from West Covina, “SoCal” I am number 3 of four boys in my Indo Dutch family. Both of my parents are Indo Dutch and their families are originally from Indonesia. My Father, Jeffrey Kerkhoff, born in Jakarta, Indonesia and moved to live in Amsterdam, The Netherlands, 45 minutesNorth of Rotterdam, where he lived until he was 16. His father and mother Maximillian and Carol Kerkhoff relocated my dad and his two brothers to Baldwin Park, CA. My mother Elizabeth (Pieters) Kerkhoff, born in Sliedrecht, The Netherlands and moved to South Pasadena, CA in 1960 moved to Baldwin Park from there. She was number 4 of 8 children from John and Margaretha Pieters. Growing up in an Indo home in SoCal was interesting as we looked like many kids out there, but very few actually knew “what we were.” I remember going to school and reporting I went to Oma and Opa’s house over the weekend and reacting to certain names as if someone just said a funny joke and my peers having no idea what was going on. All the huge family get togethers and amazing food that no one I spoke to ever heard of. I honestly saw it as “we were just exclusive” or in the “cool club” but the looks we would get were as if we were weird. I remember going to The Holland Festival as a kid with my Opa. We really weren’t that excited about the food as both sets of grandparents could prepare Indonesian food very well ! But it was more of the atmosphere and being around folk of the same background that were not in our immediate family. Of course food is HUGE in our culture and extremely important to me. So now in my family, we try to “out do” each other with who  cooks the most and the best Indo food to share with the family. Having married my Latin American high school sweetheart Saida Kerkhoff, she makes it a deliberate point to master the Indo Culinary Arts for and with our 3 daughters Charisma, Alyssa, Charlotte and our son Obadiah. We are proud to be INDO and look forward to further exploring our culture with them in the future. Jedediah Kerkhoff

Hello, my name is Jeanette Chaires. I’m 21 years old and was born in Riverside, California. I’m a third generation Indo/African American and have lived in southern California my entire life.

My Oma was born in Makassar on the island of Celebes (now Sulawesi). My grandfather on my mother’s side was also born in Indonesia and was also Indo, but as he has not been present in my mother’s life or my life, I know very little about him. My mother is Indo and my father is of mixed African American descent. He and my mother divorced when I was very young, so he is not a large part of my life. My life mainly centers around my mother’s relatives, though I still have contact with my father’s family.

My great grandparents, on my mother’s side, lived in various places in Indonesia. They were forced to leave Indonesia after Indonesia declared their Independence. They moved to the Netherlands in 1956 and settled in Den Haag. The climate in the Netherlands was too cold and they soon immigrated to the United States where the climate would suit them better.

In 1959, my great grandparents and their three children immigrated to Norwalk, California, where they made a good life for themselves. My great grandparents worked very hard and bought a home for their family. They also opened a very popular Indonesian restaurant named Rumah Sate in 1967. They owned and ran it until my great grandfather’s death in 1987. I remember hearing so many wonderful stories about the restaurant and how they had so many friends in the Dutch Indonesian community who would come to visit and socialize with them. The food was always delicious and the atmosphere was warm and inviting. My mother spent many nights at the restaurant in the back kitchen while her mother was working as a waitress in the front and the rest of the family cooked the traditional Indonesian dishes.

As I grew up, I learned that I had such a rich and unique background. I tried to learn the Dutch language and took many courses that enlightened me about my Indonesian heritage. I don’t know too many Indos that are both Indo and African American, but I have run across a few people and I always enjoy getting to know them. I also enjoy socializing with people from the Indo community and I try to do it whenever the opportunity arises. Just yesterday, my mom and I had a great day at the Dutch Festival in Long Beach.

My best friend is my Oma. She doesn’t sit home and knit scarfs or make quilts…not that there is anything wrong with that…but rather she is very trendy and totally enjoys living life to the fullest. Anyway, I moved back into her house, my childhood home, because I want to share as many moments as possible with her. My Oma is my guide, my light, and our relationship is so special that absolutely nothing has come between us. We live here with her new husband, who is also Indo, and we are truly a very happy family.

I am very proud of my Dutch Indonesian heritage and I hope to incorporate more and more of this rich culture into my life. Someday, I hope to have children and I plan to teach them to appreciate all the sacrifice that our ancestors have made to give them this amazing life. Thank you!

 

 

 

                         

 

Salam Komunitas So Cal Indo!

My name is Adam de Boer and I am an American painter, with Indo ancestry, currently living and working in Los Angeles. For the past seven years I’ve travelled throughout Indoneisa to investigate my Eurasian heritage and surf, most recently to Yogyakarta on a yearlong Fulbright fellowship. My current work employs imagery and traditional crafts from the region as a way to connect my artistic practice with those of his distant cultural forebears. 

My work invokes my Dutch-Indonesian cultural legacy to address broader themes of cultural hybridity and representations of interpersonal and international power dynamics. Growing up in a diverse community in Southern California as a first-generation American, I took my mixed-race identity for granted. Many of my generation, whose families are cultural hybrids, adapted with an almost unconscious fluidity to their new American identities. Perhaps this adaptation stemmed from the residual pains of immigration and the pressures of conformity felt by our parents. Regardless, our awareness of the grief and dislocation that birthed our multicultural identities was largely ignored as we assimilated to middle-class American life.

I’ve recently been endeavoring to revive the memory of my dormant cultural history and aesthetic traditions nearly erased by this assimilation. This exploration of my Indonesian heritage addresses the trauma of the Indo legacy, asking what this particular history means, and what an understanding of it could mean more broadly for contemporary global culture. For the past six years, I’ve studied the traditional crafts of my Javanese forebears— wax-resist batik, leatherwork, and wood carving—while pushing the aesthetics of these crafts beyond their traditional boundaries. I also quote from the vernacular of Java’s built environment of tiled floors, volcanic stones, and bamboo walls. Through this practice, with its embodied tension between traditional handmade craft and contemporary painterly experimentation, I attempt to perform the dislocation and, ultimately, the necessary resolution, of my hybrid identity.

Using imagery informed by my Californian upbringing and education, I appropriate and mutate Javanese craft traditions, incorporating traditional designs to make hybrid representational forms. The relationship between the craft and representational elements can be viewed from different, and often conflicting, vantages. It’s my intention for these conflicts to serve as a symbolic gesture toward the historical reality of the post-colonial condition. Rather than calling for a pat resolution, I hope my work encourages sustained engagement with cultural difference and injustice as an antidote to the racist and xenophobic neo-imperial agenda of late capitalism.

Please take a look at some of my work at www.adamdeboer.com.

Terima kasih banyak,

Adam

Both my parents are Indo’s. They met in their teen years here in Southern California. In my generation, (80’s kid) most “Indo” kids did not come from both parents of Dutch Indonesian decent. All my mom and dad’s Generation, who all mostly shared the story of their parents being in concentration camps on the island, married outside of the Indo race. Like my cousins, they are Dutch Indo and Hispanic. But not us Benjamin’s kids. In our area, we where the last of the Dutch Indo’s. I am sure there are more in my generation, but in my life time I have only met 1 or 2. This alone has always made me feel very unique.

Its a question that comes up almost on a weekly basis. “What nationality are you?’ I am a green eyed Indo. I got my eyes from my dad. The combination of my dark skin and light green eyes always made people approach me to ask if I was Hawaiian, Greek, Mexican, Jewish, Black, Mulatto…There where so many guess’s, I couldn’t list them all. And when I would tell them what I actually was, it was always the same response. “Dutch-Indo what?” A lot of people didn’t even know what Indonesian was! I would end up telling them the history of my Oma and Opa being raised in Sumatra and Jakarta, the war, the struggle of finding a home after the war, and the move to Southern California. I love telling the story. And it seems like people love to hear it. Its a good story.

I wouldn’t be a true Indo if I didn’t talk about the food. OH the food! Satay, Gado Gado, Peanut sauce, Sambal, Nasi Goreng, Ayam Goreng, Rendang, and Lemper. Just to name a few. Literally a few! There is so much more! The smell of shrimp paste at my Oma’s house in the evenings will always stick in my brain. My Oma and Opa never used the AC so it was always hot and humid in their house, but it was just how they liked it! (and it saved them money! Those Indo’s are penny pincher’s!) She would have her wok out frying something delicious for dinner.

Sambal was always on the table no matter if it was spaghetti, or a rice dish. Our food meant a lot to us. Everything was usually surrounded by what my Oma made. The food always brought us together, even if just for a moment. That is where a lot of my Oma and Opa’s stories of their time in the prison camps came out. We always ate all of our food on our plates. People not having food was not this distant Chinese kid we didn’t know, starving in China. My Oma and Opa starved in those prison camps. So food was sacred, and we ate every last bite. Indo’s love to party!! I remember being small and going to the Rosie parties. Lots of dancing, drinking, smoking, and dirty jokes! It was a cluster of dark Asian people speaking Dutch.

Its a very confusing sight to someone who has not been introduced to the Indo culture. They where loud, funny, and loved to eat. We really are a beautiful, unique group of people. Especially the old Indo’s. They have a history that us younger Indo’s will never know. Looking back now, and remembering them celebrating and having such a good time together is almost symbolic of them rejoicing in that they have been through so much, and that they survived. They would shut down the parties, staying up late and finish out their fun with a cup of coffee and a smoke. .

Growing up Indo, my friends always knew my family and I were different. My brother and sister and I were very California cultured but when we would whip out our Muisjes sandwich for lunch (chocolate sprinkle sandwich) our friends looked at us confused. Some of our friends embraced the food and loved it. Some would squirm and I knew instantly, my Oma would NOT like this friend! HAHA! The friends that hung around where the ones comfortable around my Oma to let her slap them up side their heads with her house slufflje (her slipper) or feed them a rice dish even if they said they where not hungry.

As much as my Oma and Opa laid down their house rules and demanded good behavior, it was the only place I really ever wanted to be. Swimming all day, a never ending supply of food and treats, and all my Opa’s wild animal friends. He would feed Lizards, humming birds, wild crows, and let us hand feed his beautiful Koi fish, dead fly’s! I had an amazing childhood and I wouldn’t change it for anything! I am very thankful for being brought up in such a unique, tradition filled culture. My kids, who are mixed, will never truly know the magic of this culture like I did. All I can do is keep it alive by the food and the stories. I am proud to be an SoCal Indo and will do my best to keep the memories alive.

-Jacque Ford