About Eric Buvelot
Eric Buvelot is a senior reporter and writer residing in Bali since 1995. He started his career in France at the daily Libération. Writing hundreds of articles about Bali and Indonesia, in French and English for publications such as La Gazette de Bali, as chief editor for 13 years and for leading English-speaking media platforms such as The Jakarta Post, Indonesia Expat, Now Bali and Le Banian.
Getting to Know Eric Buvelot
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We need words even with images we need words. Sometimes you can escape words. You may communicate a message with an image but if you go through documenting a special subject, sooner or later you will need words. The difference in art, it may be abstract enough, you can do without words.
Eric Buvelot
Biography
Eric Buvelot has over 20 years of experience as a senior reporter and editor. A Parisian in Bali. What makes someone find their home in a completely foreign culture? The adventures in contrasting cultures bring together an accumulation of experiences that resonate in his writing. A valuable combination of knowledge, experience, criticism, empathy and humour. An understated presence whose remarkable contributions are equally modest.
Why Indonesia?
Growing up, Eric’s focus for a time was in music. He was a member of the French New Wave band Mome Rath from 1982 to 1987. During this period he recalls not having time to travel. For many years he did nothing but play music. “When this was finished, it was time to travel.”
I had something since a child, a fascination with Asia. It is just something you feel. And so since I was a boy I was attracted to the Asian world.
Eric Buvelot
Travels and Home
“I first travelled to Malaysia, Philippines, Thailand, Australia and then to its neighbouring country Indonesia. This is where I realised this is where I want to live. It was that simple. I had dreams since I was a boy. I was fascinated by Dayak culture, the rainforest and the jungle. My first trip to Indonesia was to discover Borneo and the Dayak. So I travelled there and that’s how it all started.”
“I then continued to travel through Java, Surabaya, Balikpapan and Samarinda. I paid for my seat on longboards and small boats and I travelled there for several weeks. It was fantastic. After several years I managed to move here and made my life here. I don’t have a family anymore in France. I became warga Indonesia, something a little strange for a typical Parisian guy like me.”
Writing and Art
Writing and art are completely different. But writing, I’ve done this thousands of times.
Music is my favourite artistic activity and yet I never wrote a line on music. I have written articles on artists such as Ari Bayuaji. That perspective is a behind-the-scenes story. it is an environmental concept that was elaborated on in his art. This writing is about his goodwill to resuscitate a dying workshop. I have over 25 years of experience in journalism, and I can write. But writing about art is not easy.
Eric Buvelot
Full article on Ari Bayuaji here.
Image: Eric Buvelot Sawidji Studio
A Writer’s Thoughts on Words
Our conversation led to the topic of film and documentaries as a natural progression of Eric’s experience in journalism…
“I never did anything like that but I find it very interesting. It’s a form of narrative that is supported by images and the images are important. You can lessen the number of words when there are images. Though sometimes it is paradoxical. When words come to the rescue images can be re-interpreted differently. As a director you express your vision.”
The Necessity of Words
“Is it possible to do it without a single word? That is my question. Images are influenced by the perspective of the lens. More than that, the lens you look through reveals the colours of culture. How you have been raised, the culture you received from your parents, school and neighbourhood. This is the lens at which you look at things. We need words even with images we need words. Sometimes you can escape words. You may communicate a message with an image but if you go through documenting a special subject, sooner or later you will need words. The difference in art, it may be abstract enough, you can do without words.”
I love the Paris of my time.. it has changed so much also. It was fun to bring my daughter there but to see how it is now is unsettling. In the Western world, things change so fast.
Eric Buvelot
Essential Nature
“Thinking back to when I was a boy in Paris, it’s a big city. It has some greenery and parks but honestly, it is a real city. I’m a city boy, I was never in contact with nature as a boy. I would play in the square down from my parent’s apartment. Playing in the fumes of automobiles. When I grew up I felt the need for nature little by little. It was almost unknown to me as a boy except during holidays. It’s good to be in nature. It gives a lot of good feelings.”
“I have appreciated nature since I moved to Indonesia. and explored because I wanted to feel nature and its power. I can not live without nature. It has become essential to my life. I have been running for the past twelve years. Going to the countryside to be completely immersed in Balinese nature. I need to run. Time away without handphones. To be immersed in the natural environment and feel it through the body.”
The Truth About Fiction
Eric Buvelot has now begun a new adventure. Perhaps years of full immersion in the realities of life have prompted his writing to move towards a new creative freedom. Away from the strictures of reporting, adhering to what must in the end be a narrow tightrope of ‘representational truths’. He now embraces the joy of free storytelling. Unleashing the well-honed skills of a journalist into a world of fictional freedom.
It is a wish.. that I will be able to focus on writing novels. Having always been attracted to being an author, I love to write stories. It’s fascinating to develop complete fiction. I love that feeling. Like a movie director.. They create stories. I have been documenting for years. Now I wish to enjoy writing fictional stories. It is a good way to spend the next chapter of my life. I don’t look for trouble like I use to in the past.
Eric Buvelot
By Eric Buvelot
50 Years of Changes. A Conversation with Jean Couteau
Eric Buvelot on Social
Articles by Eric Buvelot
- https://www.nowbali.co.id/is-the-balinese-cult-of-ancestors-becoming-a-more-normative-hinduism/
- https://www.nowbali.co.id/nyepi-siwa-ratri-and-the-evolution-of-balinese-religious-rites/
- https://www.nowbali.co.id/evolution-balinese-dance-changes-bali/
- https://indonesiaexpat.id/lifestyle/arts-entertainment/burlesque-from-paris-at-my-cocotte-bali/
- https://indonesiaexpat.id/featured/kebon-vintage-cars-a-museum-in-bali-transports-you-to-the-past-of-mobility/
- https://www.thejakartapost.com/life/2020/03/25/learning-the-ropes-ari-bayuaji-is-pulling-the-strings-untying-the-knot.html
- https://www.thejakartapost.com/life/2018/11/26/myth-magic-and-mystery-in-bali-rediscover-bali-with-jean-couteau.html
- https://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2020/04/30/rom-yaari-a-body-painter-with-a-big-soul-many-talents.html
- https://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2019/10/24/melvine-amar-a-very-parisian-art-patron-indonesian-artists.html
