Tracking down culture through textiles<\/p>\n
Tarko Sudiarno, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta<\/p>\n
A piece of cloth is not a mere weaving of fibers but it can track
\ndown cultural traces of a nation. In times past, cloth was a
\nsymbol of a cultural exchange involving nations.<\/p>\n
With Tracking Cloth as its theme, Australian artists use
\ntextiles as a medium to express a particular culture in an
\nexhibition titled Contemporary Australian Cloth Exhibition. The
\nexhibition was held from Aug. 19 to Aug. 26 at Bentara Budaya in
\nYogyakarta and is set to open at the Hotel Borobudur in Jakarta.<\/p>\n
The exhibition features contemporary Australian textiles and
\nfiber works, with the curator from Wollongong City Gallery and
\nthe Sue Blanchfield School of Creative Art, Wollongong
\nUniversity. Participants include Keiko Amenomori-Schmeisser,
\nPatricia Black, Jennifer Dudley, Karen Edin, Ernabella Arts Inc.,
\nDhangal Gurruwiwi, Ruth Hadlow, Nelia Justo, Virginia Kaiser,
\nDjapirri Mununggurreriti, Marrnyula Munugurr, Debra Porch, Nalda
\nSearles, Holly Story, Belinda Waide and Liz Williamson.<\/p>\n
The displayed textile creations are contemporary works, and
\nits patterns, motifs and production techniques reveal their
\norigins and influences, like Javanese or Timorese motifs.<\/p>\n
Tracking Cloth expresses the artists' experiences during their
\ntrips to trace other cultures, particularly Asian. Using textiles
\nas the medium, these artists show their empathy for outside
\ncultures influencing them. They admit and show respect for
\nregional differences and indicate them in a global context.<\/p>\n
Through the displayed works, it seems like these Australian
\nartists want to open inter-community dialogs, where people share,
\nunderstand each other and develop their beliefs obtained from
\ntextile traditions in China, Indonesia, India, Japan, Malaysia
\nand Thailand.<\/p>\n
The revelation of these experiences provides an understanding
\nof textile commercial history and recognizes textile motifs in a
\nparticular culture either for daily or spiritual purposes.<\/p>\n
James Bennet, a curator of Southeast Asia cultural and art
\nworks at the Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory,
\nDarwin, Australia, said the works shown in the exhibition were
\nevidence that individual Australian artists had the courage to
\nleave their own cultural boundaries and translate their
\nexperiences into new cultural forms.<\/p>\n
These textile works, he said, could specifically be used to
\njudge the dynamism of cultural exchanges between Australia and
\nIndonesia. Bilateral relationships between two countries are
\nindeed dynamic. As historian Campbell Macknight put it, Australia
\nand Indonesia may be neighboring countries but, this relationship
\nmay be likened to two neighbors living next to the other and
\nsharing backyards, a boundary which makes them hard to understand
\neach other.<\/p>\n
Relations between the two countries, said James Bennet, have
\nebbed and flowed, with the relationship deteriorating most during
\nthe East Timor conflict in 1999. At that time in Brisbane, the
\nAustralian art community was preparing a great celebration of
\ncultural exchanges in the form of Asia Pacific Third Trinale
\nevent sponsored by the Queensland Art Gallery. Suddenly the East
\nTimor crisis climaxed and the committee received hundreds of
\npetitions to boycott the art event because of the presence of
\nIndonesian artists.<\/p>\n
He said that many Australian artists had, for many years, been
\nconsistently building a sincere relationship with Indonesia. The
\nemergence of the anti-Indonesian sentiment among some people in
\nAustralia's art community that year was very much fed by
\nunbalanced media reports on Indonesia, he claimed. This
\nunbalanced reporting on East Timor may have been even worse than
\nthe reporting during the Vietnam War in the 1960s, he further
\nclaimed.<\/p>\n
Explorations and cultural exchanges are concrete actions to
\nrespect each other. The courage of individual artists to explore
\nbeyond their cultural boundaries and translate their explorations
\ninto fresh forms can serve as a good means to negotiate the
\nfriendship between the two countries.<\/p>\n
Unfortunately, the exhibition, which will also be brought to
\nSingapore and Australia in 2003, does not include Indonesian
\nworks, making it hard to make a comparison. It will be beautiful
\nif those pieces can be placed next to each other.<\/p>",
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
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