Life Behind the Ride: Resilience and risk in Indonesia’s on-demand economy explores how digital platforms like Gojek have transformed Indonesia’s urban transport landscape, displacing traditional motorcycle taxis and reshaping the city’s social and economic map. The rise of gig work is reshaping urban life—altering economic opportunities, social networks, and city planning. Since ride-hailing apps gained popularity in 2015, an estimated four million on-demand drivers now operate across Indonesia.
Through powerful images and descriptions, this exhibit traces the precarious world of gig work: long hours, unstable incomes, and everyday risks. Yet it also reveals drivers’ resilience as they build communities, create informal basecamps, and organize to demand fairness—a vivid portrait of survival, solidarity, and resistance in a rapidly digitalizing city.
This exhibit is a key output of the SSHRC-funded research project “Ubering the City,” produced through a collaboration of professors, researchers, students, and local photographers. Lead Researchers: Dr. Sheri Gibbings, Dr. Elan Lazuardi, Dr. Robbie Peters, and Dr. Joshua Barker.
Life Behind the Ride will be held at the University of Toronto’s Department of Anthropology building (19 Ursula Franklin Street Toronto, ON). The exhibition will open with a reception on Thursday, April 9th, from 5pm to 7pm. Members of the exhibition team will be giving short addresses at 5:30, so be sure to be punctual!
After its opening, Life Behind the Ride will be open throughout April and early May. In the meantime, you can learn more about the exhibition in its previous embodiments at lifebehindtheride.my.canva.site/.
