Artist relives 1965 tragedy, May riots

Yusuf Susilo Hartono, Contributor, Jakarta

Though not physically visible, memories live on and repeatedly haunt one's lifetime journey across time and space. Painful memories will continue to linger and will not be assuaged until they are expressed and presented to the public.

Artist Dadang Christanto, 45, cannot divorce himself from these traumatic memories. Born in Tegal, Central Java and graduated from the Indonesian Institute of Arts (ISI) in Yogyakarta, Dadang, now a teacher in the School of Fine Arts and Design at the University of Northern Territory, Darwin, Australia, finds himself strongly attached to the traumatic experiences of 1965, the Sept. 30 tragedy allegedly masterminded by the Indonesian Communist Party (PKI), and later in 1998 (the May riots as the precursor of the collapse of the New Order regime). Millions of other Indonesians must share Dadang's experiences in this regard.

In 1965 there was a bloodbath in Indonesia following the massacre of PKI members, sympathizers and those simply alleged to be PKI members. Dadang was eight years old when his father was taken away by security personnel, never to return home.

Hendro Wiyanto, a fine art curator, said this experience had led to Dadang nurturing his traumatic memory. Unfortunately, before this traumatic memory had sunk into his subconscious, Dadang, just like many other Indonesians, experienced another traumatic experience of no less intensity than the 1965 tragedy - the May 1998 riots, an event which triggered the collapse of Soeharto and his New Order regime.

These traumatic memories have become the soul of Dadang's installation works and drawings, the exhibition of which began in Jakarta on July 4, opened by lawyer Todung Mulya Lubis. Previously, these works were exhibited in Australia, Japan and Korea.

Under the theme Inexpressible Horror, this exhibition at Bentara Budaya cultural house features four works that are displayed both indoors and outdoors. Indoors there are two installation works, namely Red Rain (2000) and Cannibalism: The Memory of Jakarta - Solo 13, 14, 15 May plus a series of eight drawings (2000-2001). Outdoors, in the venue's yard, visitors can enjoy one of his installation works, titled They Give Evidence (1996 - 1997) which comprise 14 human statues each carrying a victim, symbolized by their dress.

In Red Rain and his drawings, Dadang expresses himself with human heads, from which blood spurts out of their eyebrows. In his rice paper drawings, he draws the blood in red ink, while the face lines are in coffee brown accentuated by black to emphasize the eyes, nose and mouth.

Then in a few other drawings, you can see a line of heads with a very large hand covering them. Inscribed on this hand is a repetition of "the hand of Soeharto's regime" alternating with "the U.S. hand". These inscriptions tickle our curiosity.

In Red Rain, blood is expressed through strings of red thread, on each end of which there is a drawing of human heads from 1965, set one next to the other with strings flowing to the floor. These strings give the impression of the rain of blood that this nation has had to experience, even today. This arrangement gives Dadang greater satisfaction than what he originally displayed at Kwangju Bienalle in South Korea, where the heads were placed next to one another on the wall with the strings flowing from the ceiling.

In his other work,Cannibalism ....., he expresses his deep concern over the barbarism of this nation, which he symbolizes using 158 skewers of a particular human organ, set in two rows on a huge place for roasting. Stand before this work and it feels spooky but it makes one hold one's breath in awe at the same time.

As for They Give Evidence, it is a pity that it has been subjected to such bad luck. The 14 naked statues were safely exhibited abroad but caused protests from people living near Bentara Budaya. In response to the protests, Dadang and Hendro Wiyanto, the curator, did not object to wrapping the statues up with black cloth.

The heads of the statues were then wrapped in black plastic and tied with red rope. Dadang was surprised because the statues were transformed into new works. Unfortunately, although the statues were covered, Palmerah's residents could not accept them being on display in their neighborhood. So, on the second day, the statues were removed and placed in a warehouse.

Indeed, not all Muslims can accept the presence of this type of sculpture. The late Buya Hamka, however, once made a ruling that the art of sculpture was religiously permissible as Muslims could see sculpture simply as being decorative or ornamental, not something to be idolized like during the Jahiliyah, the age of pagan ignorance preceding the Islamic era.

Dadang's works, as Mulya Lubis stressed in his opening address, are actually intended to arouse our collective memory and that the dark years of 1965 and 1966 cannot just be thrown into oblivion. The reaction shown by Palmerah's residents, opens our eyes to the fact that it is not always easy to make use of art to arouse our collective memory. Of course, this does not mean that artists should give in or give up.

This exhibition runs through to July 14 at Bentara Budaya, Jl. Palmerah Selatan 17, Tel: 548300.