As soon as I arrived in Bali I was amazed by Balinese faces. In every single of them I could see a same kindness and calmness, no matter young or old, men or women, all are beautiful and unique. Then I thought I ought to capture these amazing faces, I jumped into my car and drove to places with quite a distance from touristy places. I stopped in different villages and talked to different people around while they were at their jobs or at home doing their routines.
I tried to communicate with sign languages and with a few Balinese/Indonesian words that I was remembered from guidebooks. Then I asked them whether I could take their portraits by showing my camera and pointing it to them. Almost all of them accepted and gave me one of those amazingly kind smiles.
Faces in rural areas compared to more developed places are fairly different. Darker with many more lines with a very powerful look with eyes so trenchant. Sometimes you are scared to look them straight at their eyes but then suddenly they smile to you and you will see loads of kindness in the same eyes.
Bali , August 2011
