'Indo' painter expresses cultural dilemma<\/p>\n
By R. Fadjri<\/p>\n
YOGYAKARTA (JP): Edith Bons is a painter whose heritage is
\nanchored in two different worlds, but in whose creations the
\nIndonesian part without doubt has the upper hand. This trait
\npervades her work, 30 examples of which are on show from April 4
\nto April 30 at the Cemeti Gallery, Yogyakarta.<\/p>\n
Edith Bons employs a traditional Indonesian style or merges it
\nwith Western styles. She is both a Western and an Eastern artist.
\nSuch artists have a unique place in the Western art scene. They
\nmay, sociologically, not differ from their Western brethren, but
\npsychologically they are often torn between Western and Eastern
\nvalues.<\/p>\n
The life of the \"Indo\", the name given to the offspring of a
\nDutch-Indonesian marriage, was not all that easy in colonial
\ntimes. They led a life full of conflicting values and prejudice,
\nconstantly searching for their identity.<\/p>\n
Prejudice was their lot in life during colonial times. They
\nfound themselves sandwiched between two very different cultures,
\nconfronted with racial prejudice, and a colonial heritage that
\nthey found hard to shed.<\/p>\n
Edith Bons was born in Merauke, Irian Jaya in 1952. She
\ngraduated from the Academy of Various Arts in Minerva, Groningen,
\nthe Netherlands, where she settled down in 1962 with her parents
\nat the age of ten. Indonesia was hardly talked about at home
\nsince speedy adaptation to the Dutch lifestyle was expected of
\nIndos arriving from Indonesia.<\/p>\n
The Indo propensity to ignore their Indonesian heritage has
\nits cause in the Netherlands East Indies colonial period. Said
\nEdith Bons: \"Whenever my parents talked about Indonesia, they
\nreally meant the Netherlands East Indies, a country that is now
\nlong gone.\"<\/p>\n
When the Dutch lost their power over Indonesia, the Indos who
\nopted for Dutch citizenship faced a dilemma, particularly those
\nborn in the post-colonial era. On one hand, their economic needs
\nwere being met in Holland, but on the other hand their feelings
\nwere still linked to Indonesia. It is, therefore, not at all
\nsurprising that Edith Bons finds herself emotionally tortured
\nevery time Indonesia celebrates its independence on Aug. 17.<\/p>\n
\"Independence Day is a very challenging day for me. I have the
\nopportunity to feel as an all-Indonesian person, which, in
\nreality, I can never become,\" she lamented bitterly.<\/p>\n
She wanted at first to go to the Far East, and not to
\nIndonesia. She had wanted to go to India or Nepal. Coming to
\nIndonesia was more of an accident. She settled down in Yogyakarta
\nand then in Jepara, Central Java, in 1985. She forged friendships
\nwith Indonesian contemporaries. She even had an exhibition with
\nNindityo Adipurnomo, another artist living in Yogyakarta. Since
\nthen she has become more aware of her Indonesian heritage, both
\npersonally and artistically.<\/p>\n
It was in Indonesia that she found a form of expression in
\ntraditional art like wayang, batik and carving.<\/p>\n
Edith Bons works with all sorts of materials, like carton,
\npalm leaves and paint, traditional Indonesian touches in
\ncombination with techniques of Western art. Apart from painting,
\nshe also uses other forms like collage, gluing together
\nIndonesia's traditional art such as pictures of farmers or Dewi
\nSri, the rice goddess of Java and Bali, shadow puppets, batik
\ncloths or the black-and-white checker cloths of Bali.<\/p>\n
Take her 1994 work entitled The Land, for instance. The work
\nhas pastoral pictures attached to a background of black-and-white
\nchecks treated to give the whole picture a misty look. The
\nBalinese cloth could also be seen as an abstract form of paddy
\nfields. On the left, right and upper part of the work, thick
\nbroken lines in white, yellow and red dominate. The picture is
\npainted on a piece of carton and framed in black and white,
\nexuding a nostalgic atmosphere of Indonesian village life.<\/p>\n
The decorative style of Edith Bons' paintings is difficult to
\nignore. It is very evident in her painting called Under The
\nPapaya Trees. Round shapes in yellow, blue and red on a lilac
\nbackground resemble batik ornaments made with the jumputan dyeing
\ntechnique. Then there is her work called Matahari I, in which a
\nsnake encircles the canvas' edge, ornate in a yellow and green
\ntriangle motif. In the center of the canvas, an abstract red sun
\nis simmering, surrounded by spiral shapes. It depicts nature
\nawash in sunshine, green vegetation and wild beasts.<\/p>\n
Edith Bons uses Eastern symbols in combination with Dutch ones
\nwhich can be observed in one of her works featuring Dewi Sri, a
\nbatik ornament and a shadow puppet facing a tulip and a windmill.
\nThese symbols seem to express her dilemma, standing as she does
\nbetween two cultures. This can also be seen in Gembala (1994),
\nfeaturing a cross with the head of Semar, an Eastern and Western
\nsymbol. Warna Biru Yang Hilang (The Blue Color That Disappeared)
\nstresses even more the dilemma of the Indo, symbolized in a
\ngolden hill with two crosses on the left. On top of the hill, two
\nshadow puppets are in a challenging stance, while a broad blue
\nline stretches from one corner to the other under the hill. It is
\nas if Edith Bons wanted to say that Dutch power was torn away
\nwith the blue line on Aug. 17 1945, leaving only the red and
\nwhite. To someone who can either become Indonesian or Dutch, it
\nmight denote that a part of themselves is lost forever.<\/p>\n
\"Indos will always find their identity squeezed in between two
\nraces. They will try to live between two cultures without
\npriorities for either one,\" said Helena Spanjaard, a keen
\nobserver of Dutch art, in a brochure available at the exhibit.<\/p>\n
A sense of longing, romanticism, a search for identity, tie up
\nEdith Bons and her contemporaries to the culture of their
\nIndonesian forebears. And to enthusiasts of Western art, Edith
\nBons and other artists of Indo parentage have generously enriched
\nthe form of Western art.<\/p>",
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