Visitors at the sixth Xposure International Photography Festival that concludes Tuesday at Expo Centre Sharjah, gained a powerful insight into two disparate worlds of Indonesia – one of the orangutans of Sumatra and another of the country’s child jockeys – as veteran Belgian photojournalist Alain Shroeder presented Stories in the Making.

“She is our symbol of failure to save orangutans,” he said during his poignant narration of how he photographed Hope, an orangutan found with a broken clavicle, blinded, and with 74 bullets in her body and her baby, who tragically succumbed to her injuries on the way to a medical centre.

“It was heartbreaking for all of us. Some of us even wept when we realised we couldn’t save the baby,” said Shroeder, as he elaborated on his series,Saving Orangutans, that won the World Press Photo awards in two categories in 2020.

“Indonesia’s Sumatran orangutans are under severe threat from the ongoing depletion and fragmentation of the rainforest and human activities,” he said, while explaining how the great apes are constantly being forced out of their natural rainforest habitat by humans.

“Some organisations rescue orangutans that are lost or injured while others like the SOCP – Sumatran Orangutan Conservation Programme, cares for, rehabilitates and re-socialises orangutans at their purpose-built medical facility. My pictures show their daily lives in the clinic and quarantine centre,” said Shroeder,reinforcing that the goal is to reintroduce them into the wild.

“It was my endeavour to show the world how this is all being done,” he said, while presenting photos of other rescued orangutans – Baby Brenda who arrived with a broken arm and Diana, who were both rehabilitated by SOCP. “I still get goosebumps while talking about them,” he added.

Shroeder also presented a visual series on the country’s horse-riding culture in Sumbawa Island where young boys are the unheralded stars of the annual show each year.

“It was a disaster to start with. It was in utterchaos, and I had to put everything in order by making it black and white, and eventually, it became a story worth telling,” he said, describing the project that won the first prize at World Press Photo 2018 in the Sports Stories category.

“The unique features of Sumbawa racing are the notoriously small horses and the fearless child jockeys who mount bareback, barefoot, and with little protective gear. And they are all aged between five and 10!” he explained, discussing what made his coverage of the MaenJaran so interesting.

Once a game between neighbours to celebrate a good harvest, horse racing in Sumbawa was transformed into a spectator sport by the Dutch in the 20th century to entertain officials and nobility. It now takes place during every important festival and holiday throughout the year, at racetracks across the island, and remains a favourite pastime of the Sumbawans.