The Masked Monkeys of Indonesia

This practice is grotesque and cruel.   Although the people are extremely poor, it is hard to empathize with the cruel exploitation of the monkeys.


Ed Wray
A monkey tears off a rubber baby doll head it is being trained to wear at Kampung Cipinang Besar, also known as "monkey village" in Jakarta, Indonesia

• • 
    

    
     Ed Wray
    

    Madi, a trainer, sits on a monkey cage with two of his performing monkeys in "monkey village."

    
    

    
    

    

    Ed Wray

    A monkey lunges out of its cage in "monkey village" on June 15, 2010.

    
    
    
    

    

    Ed Wray

     "Although forcing the animals to work on the streets is cruel, the keepers, and handlers of these animals, live in a harsh and unforgiving world of extreme poverty," Wray said, "And this is the only way they know to make a little money to survive."
    

    
    

     

    Ed Wray

    A monkey peers out of its cage in "monkey village."

    
    

    
    

    
    

    
    

     

     Discipline- Ed Wray

    Madi disciplines one of his performing monkeys by threatening to hit him.

    
    

    
    

    
    

     

     A young monkey is chained so that he must learn to stand on two feet.
    

    
    

    
    

    
    

    
    

    

      Monkeys and their handler at Kampung Cipinang Besar.

    
    

    
    

    

    A trainer moves to untie the hands of a young monkey he has been training at Kamoung Rambutan.

     

    A masked monkey performs on the streets of Kampung Munyet.
    

    
    

    
    

    

    A monkey from Kampung Cipinang Besar performs in a neighboring village.
    

    
    

    
    

    

    Ed Wray

    A monkey performs at a busy intersection in Jakarta.

    
    

    
    

    

    
    

    Ed Wray

    A monkey and its handler attempt to attract change from passers-by on a busy street in Jakarta.

    (Notice the baby clinging to the female monkey in the mask.)

    
    

    
    

    
    

    

    Ed Wray

    A monkey practices riding a wooden horse at Kampung Cipinang Besar in Jakarta.

    
    

    

    A young monkey being trained to stand on two feet.
    

    
    

    
    

    

    A monkey in Kampung Munyet - an Indonesian village where monkeys are trained, rented, and sold.
    

    
    

    
    

    
    "Although forcing the animals to work on the streets is cruel, the keepers, and handlers of these animals, live in a harsh and unforgiving world of extreme poverty," Wray said, "And this is the only way they know to make a little money to survive."
    
    
    Ed Wray was terrified the first time he encountered a masked monkey. Having lived and worked in Jakarta as a freelance photographer for years, he was accustomed to seeing the animals, cruelly leashed by chains, jumping through hoops or riding trikes on the sidewalks. But for Wray, the mask was a terrifying twist.
    
    
    “When I first saw a monkey with a rubber baby doll’s head stuck over its head as a mask, it immediately struck me as horrifying and beyond weird.” Wray said. “Something about the combination of the doll head – which I think is scary looking to begin with – and a long tail just struck a chord in me.”
    
    
    Shocking to many Westerners, it’s a common sight on the streets of Jakarta. Most Indonesians pass along unfazed or mildly amused and a few give the handlers money. “Whether they feel more sorry for the monkey or handler, I don’t know.” Wray added.
    
    Wray decided to venture past the sidewalk performances and explore where the monkeys lived and how they were trained. “Initially I was purely interested in the masked monkeys,” Wray said. “But once I saw the village and the condition in which the people there lived alongside the monkeys, another grim layer was added to the pictures and to my thinking about the monkeys.”
    
    
    “The idea came to me that the disturbing image of the monkeys wearing the masks is a visual distillation of the kinds of horrible things that happen when people are driven to desperation by poverty.”
    
    
    
    Wray said he was going to continue with the project, adding, “One thing I would definitely like to concentrate on is how the monkeys get to the city from the jungle—the commercial process that brings them into urban areas as pets or performers.”
    
    
    
    
    
    Related Topics: Ed Wray, Indonesia, Jakarta, monkeys
    
    Read more: http://lightbox.time.com/2011/05/25/the-masked-monkeys-of-indonesia/#ixzz25jiMVMke
    
    
    The Masked Monkeys of Indonesia - LightBox

    Link:  http://lightbox.time.com/2011/05/25/the-masked-monkeys-of-indonesia/#5