In Isolation, Indonesian Artists Swing Between Offering Inspiration and Acts of Protest

Here in Indonesia, artists have been among those affected amid
the COVID-19 pandemic, and the government has not yet decided to
provide any financial assistance. It seems that mapping and data
collection of arts organizations and artists is still a significant
obstacle for this country, so prosperous in cultural diversity.

Nevertheless, instead of waiting for the decision to be made,
Indonesian contemporary artists continue to work in response to the
pandemic and to spread inspiration. Some work on studio art at
home. Others create works rooted in activities and practices that
are shared through photos on Instagram or spread through WhatsApp
groups.

Bandung-based artists Tisna Sanjaya falls
into the first category. Sanjaya is a senior lecturer in the
Visual Art Program at the Bandung Institute of Technology, where he
teaches printmaking, and the campus is now closed. Ordinarily, he
makes etchings, drawings, and paintings, although he is also known
for his participatory art projects.

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Recent photos from his Instagram show Sanjaya scratching a 70 by
85-centimeter copper plate. The lines are wild but in certain parts
orderly. Strange forms emerge, resembling a terrible crowd of
bacteria or viruses. The image of a tree with intricate branches
appears as well.

These plates are still in the
initial stages. In fact, Sanjaya wants specifically to highlight
his process, since it’s part of what he loves about artmaking right
now.

“Etching creates a deep
contemplation,” explains the artist. “This process also requires
patience. The pandemic leads me to reflections that reintegrate
mind and soul. It [the art] is like a prayer for healing
humanity.”

While Sanjaya wants to explore inner depths, another Bandung
artist, Isa Perkasa, takes a
different path. Since the 1990s, Perkasa has been known to the
public for performance and installation art, often involving social
protest. He has actively condemned oppression, the violence of the
military apparatus and the state bureaucracy, socio-economic
inequality, the plague of corruption, and much more.

Photos that appear now on Instagram show Perkasa sewing dozens
of red-and-white masks—the colors of the Indonesian national flag.
He produced these masks from his narrow house, behind a bus
terminal in Bandung. He then has been distributing them to people
who pass by his house: food vendors, students, mosque workers,
drivers, and others.

One photo shows a crowd in which his red-and-white masks are
seen on nearly half of the faces—a striking image. The function of
the mask is no longer just to cover faces but also to highlight the
current socio-political situation in Indonesia: a truly national
emergency. In the context of Indonesian politics, the masks suggest
being silenced as well as offering protection for those who wear
them.

With shops closed due to the pandemic, Perkasa has recently run
out of red and white fabric. Still, he didn’t want to give up.

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Instead, Perkasa made use of the fabric from uniforms he has
used in previous art projects such as his work Uniformed
Memory, which commented on politics by using the material
from the uniforms of various government security agencies as a
canvas to paint on. Thus, his newer homemade masks now range from
gray, brown, blue, to striped—colors typical of the Indonesian
military. This symbolism is yet another way to gesture towards the
larger situation in Indonesia at this moment.

Even though life is being quarantined and the government of
Indonesia has not yet decided on any financial assistance scheme,
there’s no reason not to create art. In the hands of those who are
creative, it can continue to be a tool for strengthening
humanity.

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Offering Inspiration and Acts of Protest appeared first on
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