Artist Sunarso visualizes history

Artist Sunarso visualizes history

Bambang M., Contributor, Yogyakarta

Edhi Sunarso must be destined to be invariably involved in a
struggle all his life.

When he was young, Sunarso was an independence fighter against
the Dutch colonialists. Now a master sculptor, he concentrates on
imbuing his spirit of struggle in his art to immortalize
historical events.

The 71-year-old sculptor has created many monuments and
dioramas for many museums across Indonesia.

"Many people know me as a sculptor, but few are aware that
I've also made historical dioramas," he said at his workshop in
Jombor, Sleman, Yogyakarta.

Indeed, Sunarso is always associated with sculpting. He is the
creator of the Welcome monument in front of the Hotel Indonesia
roundabout and the Aerospace monument in Jakarta, as well as many
other landmark monuments in several cities, all depicting the
thematic thread of heroism.

Sunarso is among Indonesia's best-known historical diorama
artists. In an historical diorama, a milestone of history -- the
actors, the event and the place -- is created into a sculptured
scenic display in miniature, much like a three-dimensional
painting. As dioramas have historical themes, they are usually
found in museums.

Sunarso has created nine historical dioramas, some of which
can be enjoyed at Pancasila Sakti Museum in Lubang Buaya,
Jakarta, at the November 10 Monument Museum in Surabaya, and
Vredeburg Museum in Yogyakarta.

His diorama is extraordinary in that the historical event is
depicted as accurately as is possible to the original happening.

"Making dioramas is much more difficult than creating a
sculpture," said Sunarso.

Born on July 2, 1932 in the Central Java town of Salatiga to a
humble family, he was given to an uncle in West Java to raise
when he was just 7 months old. At 14, when he was in elementary
school, he joined the struggle against Dutch colonial rule.

"Every time I came home from school, I took some bullets from
pro-Indonesia (Dutch) KNIL soldiers and I gave them to Indonesian
freedom fighters," said Sunarso.

He got caught once, but he did not give up. After his release,
he joined the West Java-based Siliwangi regiment and was tasked
with sabotage. In 1946, he was caught again by the Dutch in
Cimalaya and was sentenced to seven years in prison.

In prison, he was tortured every day. "I lost my teeth because
of frequent electric shocks."

Even with the horrifying experiences, prison had a positive
effect in that it served as his first "art school", as he spent
his time behind bars learning to draw.

When he was eventually freed in 1949, he walked from Bandung
to Yogyakarta to find his regiment. When he got to Surakarta, he
was thought to be a spy and was arrested, this time by Indonesian
troops.

Here he met Slamet Riyadi, a senior officer who later
appointed him to a staff position in a military administration in
Ampel, Boyolali, where his father was the head of one of the
surrounding villages. Through this chance meeting, he was
unexpectedly reunited with his family.

But after spending a week at his parents' house, Sunarso felt
restless. "I felt somewhat envious of my siblings for their
success in their studies. I decided to walk to Yogyakarta and
told myself not to come home until I made something of myself."

He reached Yogyakarta in 1950, but his regiment had already
moved to West Java, so he registered at the Yogyakarta
Demobilization Office, wanting to continue his schooling at the
Indonesian Fine Arts Academy (ASRI). As he did not have the
requisite diplomas for admission, all he could do was to watch
ASRI students practice drawing from outside, trying his own hand
at drawing in the meanwhile.

In doing so, he caught the attention of Hendra Gunawan, a
lecturer at the academy, who invited him to stand in as an
observer. Sunarso took the offer immediately.

Three years later, he passed a special examination to gain
admission to the academy, and studied painting and sculpting.

His artistic talent found fertile ground at ASRI. Three years
after graduating from ASRI, he won second prize in an
international sculpting contest in England for his work called
The Unknown Political Prisoner (1953).

In 1953, he also met Indonesia's first president, Sukarno,
when his Youth Monument in Semarang was inaugurated. The two came
to be close and Sukarno often bought his sculptures.

In the early 1960s, Bung Karno -- as Sukarno was
affectionately known -- asked him to make an historical diorama.
The president was not satisfied with the work of renowned artists
Saptoto and his friends, although they had been sent abroad
particularly to learn how to create dioramas.

Sunarso's diorama model was immediately approved as it was
deemed more artistic and more expressive, so he was asked to make
a diorama for the National Monument (Monas) in Jakarta.

At first, he refused the assignment because he did not think
he was up to it.

"'If you refuse, I will have it made in Italy'," Sunarso
recalls the President saying. His sense of nationalism
challenged, he accepted the project, which opened the doors for
him to create historical dioramas for a whole host of museums.

"Before I begin making a diorama, I must research the event to
find out exactly what took place, with as many details as
possible. I must know exactly what the freedom fighters wore or
what their belts were like. I also have to be familiar with where
the event took place," he said. As archival photos were not
enough, he often had to meet with people who had witnessed the
event.

"For my dioramas, I have carried out research from Aceh to
Papua."

A diorama is complicated and the help of other experts, such
as historians, photographers and architects -- and these days,
computer experts -- is needed. Thanks to advances in technology,
dioramas can be enhanced with sound and lighting.

"You don't earn much from making dioramas," he said. "That's
why only a handful of artists are interested in this area."

All too familiar with the fickleness of the changing times, he
saved the money he earned from making dioramas to redo them in
case politicians, or the public, considered his pieces "wrong" in
the contemporary context.

He realizes that history has too often become "his story". But
Sunarso's wish remains constant and unchanging -- to carve
historical truth into stone for the benefit of present and future
generations.