Gunny sacks, trash displayed in effort to 'cleanse' Earth
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.