Yogyakarta
Ikhwan Hastanto (Contributor/Jakarta) He’s been on TV, but Khoirul Anam isn’t half as famous as his memes. The 29-year old is prototypical of internet popularity; someone whose humor-tinted manipulated photos somehow made their way far around the internet that they ceased to have singular ownership. They’re explosive but can be fleeting, so to keep it up, their creator needs to continuously make new memes. They need to constantly recapture the unknown factor that made that first attempt work. They also need to constantly be funny, in-the-moment and “absurd” — a descriptor whose meaning has evolved into capturing anything with self-aware gaudiness. You’ve likely seen Khoirul’s work somewhere on the internet, as his memes have been reposted millions of times. If you’re not on social media, perhaps someone has forwarded one&n...