Surat-Surat Malam is an ongoing photographic series made at night in Yogyakarta, Indonesia. The title is inspired by a book by Indonesian painter Nasar, while the visual approach draws from film noir and Brassaï’s Paris by Night. The series observes the city through its nocturnal atmosphere. Its streets, lights, shadows, encounters, and quieter moments.During the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, the series took on a more specific role as a visual record of Yogyakarta at a time when everyday urban life was radically altered. Streets became quieter, familiar places changed, and the absence of activity became part of the city’s visible landscape. Some of these photographs later became part of Jogja_Kronik, a collaborative film made with Arief Budiman and Mohamad Fauzan, combining images from the series with personal experiences of the pandemic.While Jogja_Kronik developed into a collective reflection on that particular period, Surat-Surat Malam continues as an open-ended photographic series. The photographs remain less a fixed portrait of the city than an ongoing way of observing how a familiar place reveals different traces, rhythms, and absences after dark.