Harits Farhan is an Illustrator from Molo Uku and lives in Jakarta.
It all started in 2015 from Harits' anxiety about the many historical fiction comics in Indonesia. These stories are all set in ancient Java. However, historical stories outside Java felt almost non-existent. These stories could erode by time and maybe even die. This led Harits to the idea that Java would never die, because hundreds of artists beside him would focus on Java stories. Indonesia is larger than Java and rich in many historical legacies from Sabang to Merauke.
In fact, Harits thinks that all of these stories deserve to be explored, adapted, and acculturated as happened to Java. "If we can maximize that legacy, you will feel how rich Indonesia is with the stories of all the islands in Indonesia. These stories will become immortal, maybe even an icon of popular culture". Japan is the perfect example of how historical culture is well-acculturated with the times through popular culture products such as comics, novels and even films.
Harits' big dream is to lift stories from other regions outside Java in Indonesia. "Since 2015 I want these stories to be adapted into a historical fiction graphic novel. And of course, it feels very difficult because I was all alone and I had a lack of knowledge of these stories. All I have is just my spirit and the gift of drawing, I know that was not enough, but where could I start? I needed a strong story from someone else’s point of view".
"Until 2018, suddenly a person far from the Netherlands with his own big dream came via the Internet offering me to draw the story, Molo Uku. His name is Erno, someone who is a mixture of Dutch and Maluku and WOW !, this is the kind of story I mean! It’s hard to tell my purposes to other people and he came like a coincidence. ‘This is what I mean, a historical fiction story outside Java, which doesn’t exist in Indonesia as far as I know. In line with my idealism, I committed to work on this Graphic Novel. I even decided to leave my job as art director for this dream. I think this is my first step towards my big dreams, I am very grateful to meet Erno".
Harits is a graduate of fine arts at the faculty of art and design, Bandung Institute of Technology from 2013-2018, currently he lives in Jakarta and works as an illustrator and book designer.