Gunny sacks, trash displayed in effort to 'cleanse' Earth
By Sori Siregar
JAKARTA (JP): Earth cleansing activities held in several towns throughout April coincided with the commemoration of Earth Day on April 22. The organizers said the earth cleansing activities, called Ruwatan Bumi, referred to rituals and prayers to ward off misfortune as well as an alms-giving to the earth.
But the activities were not limited to religious services. It was opened to any sort of program, including greening house yards, giving free medicine to poor families, painting exhibitions, dialogs, music and theater performances and poetry reading.
At Lontar Gallery, Jl. Utan Kayu in East Jakarta, an impressive display presented 16 gunny sack sketches, seven installations and 12 photographs from April 26 to April 30.
An installation by Tita Sathorie called Missing & Silent depicted a grave made of layers of red bricks laid out on the floor. It was covered with a white cloth where photos of several missing children and two adults were shown.
The two adults are Andi Arief and Haryanto Taslam (both have now been found after missing for quite a long time). What made the installation more horrifying was that more than 100 "fetuses" were hanging over the grave in plastic bags filled with water.
Her great concern for human life and the appalling lack of respect for it was deeply felt through this installation.
Other installations mostly related to trash. Nina Y. Mansur tidily wrapped her detergent bottles, soft drink cans and other waste with a piece of transparent plastic, so that it looked like a gift placed on a child-size plastic chair.
A gift for whom? Her answer was: You.
Another interesting trash heap on the floor was made by Agus Hartono and Iwan Gendut. They made a frame out of red paper around a trash heap, indicating trash should only be thrown within the frame. An apt response was made by a cleaner in the gallery who piled waste paper within the frame as he passed through.
One of the installations, gunny sacks, was created by Yudiana Atmaja. She cut the sacks into T-forms, then made a hole in the middle. The hole was then filled with a red and white flag. Dozens of leaves were glued to the T-form installations.
A written appeal accompanying the sacks urged us not to let the leaves -- representing the young generation -- "fall" because of no availability of milk or rice and because of other pricey basic needs.
Selected photographs included ones by Rama Surya and Erik Prasetya. The Kalimantan forest fires, and suffering brought about by the drought, were among the subjects.
A "Plastic Globe" held by man symbolized hopes for a better earth and improved life.
Earth cleansing, the organizers wrote, aims to resist all the misfortunes we are now shouldering. The activities were an effort to recover social cohesion, to enable the opening of individual and collective creative energy.