Each image draws power, vulnerability or expression as a subject’s energy converges with the photographer’s perspective to capture a mood, movement and moment in a single portrait or series. By responding to the distinct energy of their subject, Eli creates images that show what lies just beyond the surface. “I am a medium to tell their stories,” they explain, “I get the honor to photograph people and make sure they are 100% represented in the way they desire.”

Originally from Jakarta, Eli draws deeply on both their personal experience while growing up in Indonesia. Aware from a young age of the power of photography to document their life, yet confined by a sheltered upbringing – they found escape and inspiration in manga, cartoons and the internet to connect to outside their world. By the time they acquired a camera as a teenager, their influences were established. Their work retains both the irreverence and imagination of the early internet and the abundant expression and fantasy of movies.

The notion of an image as preservation of a fleeting moment remains also. For Eli, an image can represent the complexity of the human condition and the resilience to define oneself on their own terms - a reference point for society to serve as documentation of the current time we live in.

Eli’s ability to harness their imagination and manifest lasting images has seen them work with clients including Nike, VICE, Adidas, WNBA, Microsoft and SSENSE. And publications including British Vogue, Billboard, Vanity Fair, FADER and Paper Magazine.