Poets Cornall, Williams: 'Artists are ambassadors'

Chisato Hara, The Jakarta Post/Jakarta

The lunch interview on Thursday is animated by the laughter and wit of the two Australian poets featured in the Utan Kayu International Literary Biennale 2005: Jan Cornall and Lauren Williams.

They are joined by Finley Smith of the Northern Territory Writers Centre -- a co-organizer of Wordstorm, the Northern Territory writers festival in Darwin -- who is following the biennale as an observer and documentarian.

Having just returned from a whirlwind, six-day tour with the Utan Kayu biennale to Bandung and Lampung, the three women -- along with the entire team of literary participants and organizing staff -- were now in Jakarta for the closing three days of the festival at the Komunitas Utan Kayu cultural center.

The poets, who perform their work as a physical drama at readings, display an almost contagious enthusiasm for the festival and its host country, using their slim and tall frames to the fullest in expressing their thoughts and impressions. While Cornall has participated in last year's Ubud Readers and Writers Festival, this is Williams' first time to Indonesia.

"At first, I was a little scared to come here because of media reports of violence ... that I might be shot, or something," Williams said.

"This was a real psychological barrier to overcome ... but I decided to come. And now that I am here, I feel completely relaxed," she said.

Cornall, a frequent visitor to Indonesia, agreed, adding that traveling to the country provided a "real experience with real people (who are) warm, friendly and care about each other". This experience of open hospitality, she continued, compelled her to "feel some responsibility to take this message back to Australia."

"Yes," Williams nodded. "Travel to Indonesia is good."

Williams' introduction to Indonesia came through festival director and poet Sitok Srengenge, who watched her perform at the indie Overload Poetry Festival in Melbourne, which he visited during a recent residency in Australia.

Indonesian writers and poets are slowly establishing a presence in that country -- for example, writer and poet Linda Kristanti is participating in the current Melbourne writers festival. The reverse is not yet equally true, but literary events such as the Utan Kayu and Ubud festivals provide a solid platform for cultural exchange.

Williams and Cornall both feel that raising the profile of Indonesian literary artists can only be good for the country, and conversely, their experience here has shown that the Indonesian public are eager and ready for such exposure.

In Bandung and Lampung both, said Williams, "We had a very warm response from the audience. They were genuinely entertained. There was a lot of laughter, (which showed that) humor translates."

Cornall continued, "Bandung and Lampung made us feel so welcome. It was fantastic ... Many young people came up afterward, and even without a common language, somehow we could communicate. They were really interested in our work." Some of the audience members also came up to the poets for advice on their own budding literary work.

The Utan Kayu festival is arranged so that the audience and writers can mingle over a post-event buffet. Commented Williams, "It's wonderful -- we can also become real people (to the audience)."

Smith, who is documenting the festival on film, said the festival's model was unlike those in Australia, and that it provided an invaluable experience to take back to her home country. In addition, she was able to better discern a means for arranging the participation of Indonesian writers in future events.

Williams added, "In Melbourne, we don't have roving festivals."

"The audiences here are also different -- they are quit4e young. In Australia, they are generally older, mostly middle- aged," she said.

Traveling by bus and ferry provided a whole other set of experiences for the poets, who enthused over the opportunity it provided for local and international artists to share, inspire and bond with one another.

"We were all sad to part after arriving in Jakarta," said Cornall.

"Even though we'll see each other (at tonight's event)," said Williams.

In particular, Williams was highly impressed by the bus drivers' deft skills at negotiating traffic.

"Oh, they are very talented. They can get through the eye of a needle. ...They're also as brave as toreadors."

She brightened and added, "I'm going to write a poem about the bus drivers."

Meanwhile, Cornall has found her own amusing subject in the helplessness of foreign participants in find their way during the tour.

"I'm lost," she recites, full of pathos and despair. The impromptu piece follows one such participant on a quest for milk for their tea, unable to locate a grocery store nearby. The poem ends with the character finally finding the store and milk, only to turn around to moan, "...Now where is the hotel?"

The lunch group erupts into laughter.

"The Utan Kayu people have been so good at getting us around, looking after us, making sure we've got everything we need. They run a very professional tour," said Cornall, who intends to perform this new piece in a Bahasa Indonesia translation before the close of the festival.

Williams, too, has already incorporated Bahasa Indonesia into a piece that deals with the universal subject of plastic bags, and has recited it from the festival's outset as kantong plastik. However, she was surprised by the wide understanding of the English language among the festival's audience and staff members.

"For example, the emcee announced everything in two languages -- it was overwhelming."

Both poets had felt a slight worry over whether their pieces -- and their performances -- would work for a local audience, but found that their Indonesian counterparts outdid them to a certain extent, particularly those artists with a theatrical or oral tradition background.

"I was impressed with the freeness of many Indonesian poets in their use of the stage ... their creativity. They're not afraid to express themselves," said Williams.

With such a positive overall experience, Williams also felt that Australia should send more art workers to festivals in Indonesia, not just artists, to encourage more bilateral coordination in the literary arena.

"Another reason why our governments should support festivals like this is because it also has an effect on tourism," said Cornall. "And the arts is something everyone can enjoy -- all differences can melt away through the arts ... and the bottom line is that we're all people."

Continuing on Cornall's thoughts, Williams added, "The arts is the bedrock of society. I think every artist who travels overseas is an ambassador -- for our own country, but also the other way. ... For example, who knows how Australia is represented here. And you want to bring back good things (about Indonesia)."