A fragment of Yogyakarta culture

Cikar Bobrok (Ramshackle horse cart); By Sindhunata; Kanisius and Bentara Budaya, Yogyakarta; 277 pp + xii

YOGYAKARTA (JP): Journalism is a both noisy and silent world. Its clamor is marked with the demand for high mobility and a strong spirit of adventure. First of all, it is the job of a journalist to expose a reality so that everybody can learn of what has happened, is happening and will happen.

Furthermore, it is also demanded of a journalist that he should have rich experience and profundity in processing a reality so that each may touch the conscience of a human being and in this way improve man's quality of life.

In fact, the foundation of the noisy world of journalism is the world of silence, one of solitude and clarity of mind. A reality will never have its echo within the heart of a human being unless one who writes about it has processed it in such a way that it will be a reader's spiritual wealth.

Journalism is not concerned merely with hard-and-dry facts. Rather, it is a portrait of the reality of the world, the reality of human beings and human interaction.

This compilation of Sindhunata's pieces has these two aspects. The facts presented are not extraordinary. In the hands of Sindhunata, a Catholic priest-cum-journalist and literary writer who studied anthropological philosophy in Munchen, these facts produce a louder and more pounding echo and as such bring the reader closer to the facts themselves.

Writing in a reflective and profound style, Sindhunata successfully brings up themes of human beings and their ordinary lives, culture and arts and makes them extraordinary. It may be simply put that the writer has presented ordinary things in an extraordinary manner.

Sindhunata's reports presented in this book are divided into seven sections. All reports deal with performances and exhibitions at the Bentara Budaya arts center in Yogyakarta.

The first section dwells on individuals with their respective expertise.

Ki Darman Gondo Darsono is a professional puppeteer, Ibu Dewi is a dancer, Pak Gepuk is well-known for his grass shadow puppets and Martopangrawit is famous for his gamelan musical compositions.

In this section the writer successfully features hidden and peculiar aspects of each figure. In this way, Gondo Darsono is not merely an ordinary shadow puppet master, Ibu Dewi has become an extraordinary dancer and Martopangrawit appears as the outstanding master of gamelan musical compositions.

He writes, "As for Martopangrawit, feeling is indeed the main point of departure in his creative process. This feeling is then processed in his heart to become sounds. The sounds in his heart cannot be just expressed. He must work on these sounds to adapt them to the sounds and the capacity of a gamelan."

In the second section, the writer resorts to the same pattern as in the first when exposing the world of art and culture.

His pattern is concerned with figures -- individuals or groups -- and their works of art. This section exposes four figures with their respective peculiarities. One of them is the master of jemblung, a folk theater unique to Banyumas. This theater is developed from a Javanese poetry recital art form and includes historical stories.

Section five is specially devoted to painting. In this section, Sindhunata introduces the lives of Lucia Hartini, Rusli, H. Widayat and Affandi, one of the country's late masters.

The painting world often sets itself apart from scientific and academic norms. Inspiration about the theme of a painting may vary.

Take Lucia Hartini, who has drawn inspiration for her surrealistic paintings from kitchen activities. "As long as there is a kitchen, I believe I will continue to be inspired," she was quoted as saying.

Affandi was a different case. In one discussion, young artists and academics tried to scientifically and academically analyze one of his paintings. The painting, created without a paint brush, is not the outcome of a technique which can be academically or scientifically explained.

In fact, it all began accidentally when he happened to lose his paint brush. This loss of a paint brush prompted him to simply pour the paint onto the canvas. Unexpectedly, this produced an effect that he liked very much.

From that time on, he no longer used a paint brush. To Affandi, the painting world had its own logic, something which could not be strictly formulated.

The world of art is subjective. Once an artist falls into the trap of certain patterns or guiding poles, his identity as a painter will be submerged in these patterns and he will lose his own self.

Most of the reports collected in the book dwells on the lives of artists and writers and on culture in general. There are portions for painting, literature, sculpture, singing and other forms of art.

Considering the pattern of writings in this book, we may say that they reflect Sindhunata's unique writing pattern, which is different altogether from his other writings.

The central figure on one occasion is explored in great detail and these details are then given the context and reflection as this figure's own unique experience. Therefore, the impression we get is that there is no distance between the writer and the subject he features.

It seems as if Sindhunata has successfully represented the emotion of the subject he is going to illustrate.

One point of criticism about this model of presentation is that sometimes the emotion of the figure is submerged in the subjectivity of the writer.

It is true that subjectivity in a human-interest report is a complex problem. Nevertheless, using this style of writing, Sindhunata has successfully produced reports on humanity, arts and culture with a greater echo among the public.

His strength in presenting themes in which the public rarely has an interest lies in his way of exposing the themes and processing the facts.

Indeed, reading this book seems as if one were reading texts on man, art and culture. Although one may still get the impression that the book as an art or cultural fragment, it may be placed in a cultural mosaic, giving room to the humanity aspect in a world sustaining the blow of modernism.

-- A. Wisnuhardana

The reviewer is a alumnus of Gadjah Mada University, and a researcher at Forum for Studies on Humanity. He resides in Yogyakarta.