Kampung Sewu Shipyard

Perahu Kampung Sewu (Kampung Sewu Shipyard) is a comic developed as part of the Kembali Bermimpi Project.

Kembali Bermimpi is a creative initiative developed in Kampung Sewu, Surakarta (Solo), Central Java, in 2025 through a collaboration between the GENERATE Project and Universitas Sebelas Maret, Indonesia. The project responds to the increasing vulnerability of riverside communities along the Bengawan Solo River to flooding and climate-related hazards, as well as the gradual weakening of cultural, social, and intergenerational relationships with the river.

The Perahu Kampung Sewu comic was co-created through storytelling processes that reconstruct memories of the river’s historic shipyards in Kampung Sewu. To revive these memories, of what was once an important site of traditional boat production along the Bengawan Solo River, storytelling sessions were held with elderly residents who had direct experience with, or close connections to, the boat-building tradition. Historically, Kampung Sewu functioned as a river port supporting inland trade networks, where boat production played a central role in the local economy until its decline in the 1990s.

The storytelling process, facilitated with residents of Kampung Sewu, captured how boats were designed and constructed, how production sites were organised along the river, and how the community came together for ceremonial launches accompanied by rituals for safety and success. Students and researchers documented these sessions through written notes and visual sketches, which later informed the development of the comic. Co-created and refined with feedback from the original narrators and community members, the comic offers an accessible way to share this river-based heritage with younger generations while strengthening collective memory and community pride.