Islands Exposed: Painters seeking cultural identity<\/p>\n
Christina Schott, Contributor, Jakarta<\/p>\n
Mention of the Mentawai people who live on a string of islands
\noff West Sumatra or the Sasak of Lombok usually conjures up
\nimages of societies clinging onto their traditions amid a harsh
\nenvironment, their lives prime study for fervent anthropologists.<\/p>\n
Some travelers might remember the impressive natural
\nsurroundings of those areas, some collectors their native art.
\nHardly any would think of contemporary paintings in this context.<\/p>\n
But this is exactly what ExpatriArt Gallery in Cipete, South
\nJakarta, presents in its newest exhibition \"Islands Exposed\". Two
\nartists -- Saeful Bahri, a Sasak, and Ambrosius Sabaggalet of the
\nMentawai community living in Siberut -- show traditional life
\nthrough the contemporary mirror of painting.<\/p>\n
\"With my pictures I want to express my hope that my people and
\nculture can develop and find something new -- that they are not
\nonly seen as an exotic tribe with potential for tourism, but also
\nby their very own skills,\" Saeful said.<\/p>\n
The 25-year-old artist was born the son of a Sasak farmer.
\nFrom elementary school, he went it alone in looking for a drawing
\nteacher, because his family did not understand his desire to
\npaint.<\/p>\n
When he went to the senior high school of fine arts in
\nDenpasar, Bali, and later to the Institute of Arts in Yogyakarta,
\nhe had to support himself through side jobs, with no funding from
\nhis parents.<\/p>\n
\"Until today they still think that I am wasting my time,\"
\nSaeful said.<\/p>\n
But the positive-minded painter worked for several years as a
\nportraitist on touristy Jl. Malioboro in Yogyakarta and gave
\ndrawing lessons to rich women from Jakarta. The style of most of
\nhis works in the current exhibition reflects this development,
\nconsisting of clearly defined and realistic figures before a
\nnaturalistic, romanticized background.<\/p>\n
He shows scenes from daily life as he remembers them from his
\nvillage -- farmers at work, women doing traditional ceramics,
\nimpressions from a village festival. Most of the frames are as
\nstyled in the earthy colors of the Sasak pictures.<\/p>\n
More expressive and contemporary are those works where Saeful
\ngoes a little more abstract, for example, in Rekayasa Identitas
\n(Engineering of Identity) and Budaya (Cultural Identity).<\/p>\n
The first shows replications of the head of a smiling boy,
\nmost of them, though, faceless, some with the traditional
\nheadband that Lombok men wear on special occasions. The second
\nvery bright, creamy-white picture presents a seductive woman with
\nthe legs of a horse, the wings of a butterfly and a
\nmodern haircut.<\/p>\n
Both works speak of Saeful's tussle with his cultural
\nbackground in finding his own identity.<\/p>\n
His almost surreal work Regenarasi Budaya (Regeneration of
\nCulture) seems to resume this fight: a person in a traditional
\ncostume holding a blue ball in his strong hands and wearing a
\nmodern watch. The face, though, is transparent and reveals an
\narid landscape.<\/p>\n
\"I wish my people would find a way out of their dry and harsh
\nsurroundings to a better, maybe more modern way of life, without
\nlosing their very own cultural identity,\" the painter said.<\/p>\n
Ambrosius, who could not attend the opening of the exhibition
\nlast week, shares similar experiences with Saeful. Although he
\ndid not grow up in his native village in the rain forest of the
\nMentawai islands, Ambrosius' childhood in the small town of Muara
\nSiberut was still dominated by the traditions of his people.<\/p>\n
His family could not understand his wish to study contemporary
\nfine arts and did not support him when he went to the senior high
\nschool of fine arts in Padang, West Sumatra. He later became a
\nstudent at the Institute of Arts in Yogyakarta.<\/p>\n
The paintings of the 26-year-old artist are harder to decipher
\nthan Saeful's ones, also holding the tag \"exotic\" because of
\ntheir rare subject matter.<\/p>\n
\"Where do you find contemporary art from the Mentawai
\nislands?\" asks Craig Pearce, the Australian owner of ExpatriatArt
\nGallery. \"You never see anything like this, what makes these
\nworks and style very special.\"<\/p>\n
Most of Ambrosius' works in this exhibition show scenes from
\nthe traditional life of the Mentawai people: a woman getting her
\nteeth filed, villagers dancing and playing music, a Sikerei
\n(medicine man) in his costume. Some accessories, like a watch or
\nfilter cigarettes, show the penetration of so-called modern
\ncivilization into the tribal culture.<\/p>\n
All of his paintings are dominated by the theme of the special
\ntattoo cult of the Mentawai people. The oldest painting, Tattoo
\nMentawai, shows an abstract, dark body presenting the thin lines
\nof its skin decoration in an almost symmetrical pattern.<\/p>\n
Most expressive are those works where Ambrosius blocks the
\nbackground in just one strong color, because his figures then
\nseem to exist in their real, own world. The newer ones give a
\nnaturalistic background, like a concession to the commercial need
\nto sell art -- something both artists have experienced during
\ntheir rocky path to their standing today.<\/p>\n
Fortunately, there are still places like ExpatriArt Gallery
\nthat give a chance to young artists that have not yet earned a
\ngreat name, but nevertheless show major talent and potential.<\/p>\n
\"I went to galleries and exhibitions all over the world. One
\nday I thought it would be better to move my private collection to
\nanother place, what in 2001 became this gallery,\" said Pearce,
\nwho works as a teacher at the Jakarta International School.<\/p>\n
Despite its name, the gallery focuses on Indonesian
\ncontemporary art.<\/p>\n
\"I myself am an expat, my partner's name is Tri and we exhibit
\nart -- it's just a word game,\" Pearce explained. \"I don't have a
\nfixed concept that has any relationship with art by or for
\nexpatriates, we want to give a free and flexible space to any
\ninteresting project coming up.<\/p>\n
\"Therefore we are not able to compete with the big galleries
\nselling their works for imaginary prizes we just want the people
\ncoming here relaxing and having fun, while enjoying the art.\"<\/p>\n
--------------------------------------<\/p>\n
Islands Exposed
\nExpatriArt Gallery, Jl. Abdul Majid 14A,
\nCipete, South Jakarta
\n(Tel. 7255856 or 72799729)
\nUntil Jan. 6, 2004
\n---------------------------------------<\/p>",
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