Seeking respite in FX Harsono's haunting nightmares

After almost three decades expressing social and political activism in his art, FX Harsono now finds himself exploring his own existence.

It is particularly evident in his work Jarum dalam Mimpiku (Needles in My Dream) at the ongoing CP Biennale. Consisting of eight panels, the 160 x 400 cm work, showing Harsono in various positions, is executed with a blend of digital print on photo paper, screen print, crayon and acrylic on canvas. Needles are particularly visual in the last panel.

In his dreams -- or rather nightmares -- needles flow through his veins and nerves, and when he tries to cut his hand in the dream to get rid of them, they continue to return to pierce his skin.

Needles affect his very existence; they are in every smile directed his way, every utterance, even in every sermon from the pulpit. Needles have become his metaphor for the pain he feels at discriminating attitudes in society, a pain he relives over and over again.

Harsono, who is of mixed Javanese-Chinese descent, was born in Blitar, a town in East Java. His grandmother was of Javanese descent, and from her he came to know the various aspects of Javanese culture. He said he also learned bits and pieces of Chinese culture from his parents, and also at the Chinese elementary school where he was a pupil up to the third grade.

Then he entered a Catholic school and was introduced to what was called "Western" culture. He went on to study visual arts in Yogyakarta, and subsequently moved to Jakarta.

Harsono claims his roots or defining a "homeland" are not important to him, and this is perhaps evident in his artworks. Yet, underlying his poignant grievances against the Soeharto regime that ruled during his formative years and young adulthood may lie the pain he was feeling at the systematic acts of discrimination against him as an ethnic Chinese.

Harsono became an active member of the Gerakan Seni Rupa Baru (Indonesia New Art Movement) that sought to redefine Indonesian visual arts in the early 1970s. He was among the art activists who caused many headaches to the ruling bureaucracy, resulting in even tighter rules regulating artistic expression at the time.

But the movement eventually dissolved and members went their own way, although the issue of New Art lingered on, and ultimately action was taken, as evident in the holding of the CP Open Biennale which is curated by a former proponent of the movement, Jim Supangkat.

In 1985 Harsono emerged again on the activist scene when he joined the exhibition at Galeri Pasar Ancol which was titled 85. In a paper prepared for a preexhibition discussion, Harsono gave an emotional condemnation of those who failed to raise issues that lay at the heart of society. But in 1987 he decided to go back to school, furthering his studies in the Painting Department of the Jakarta Art Institute (IKJ) until 1991.

Harsono is known for his strong social concern, apparent in his works, mostly installations, that decried the repressive situation in the country during the New Order.

An example was his The Voices are Controlled by the Powers (1994). Consisting of 100 masks similar to those in the wayang topeng mask drama, the installation was a reflection of the sociopolitical situation, with the severed mouths a moving and powerful condemnation of the lack of free speech.

Such emotions were again vented in his work titled Voice Without a Voice/Sign (1994). Here nine screen prints of sign language spelled out the word D-E-M-O-K-R-A-S-I, the last letter represented by a hand.

Another example came in a 1997 performance work, in which he criticized the upcoming elections with only three political parties contending. Masks laid on chairs representing the people were burned to represent their helplessness. Harsono himself was dressed as a bureaucrat, with white and red flames painted on his face.

After the fall of Soeharto in 1998, Harsono continued with his social critique in his works. But gradually a sense of severe disappointment led him to look inward. As the restrictions on free speech fell, the increased focus on one as individual contributed to a growing disregard for the plight of others.

It made him sick, he said, and the change of mind of those whom he considered friends and allies exacerbated his confusion. As disappointment became revulsion, he became aware of realities he had not seen before.

At the same time the question of who he himself actually was began to emerge. He became more interested in himself, apparent in his works at his solo exhibition last June.

Its title of Displaced hinted not only at his loss of ground in what he used to think was his own society. More than that, it is about the sense of alienation and "statelessness" that he had to endure as a man whose grandmother was Javanese and his father ethnic Chinese descent.

Living with the paradox of having been born in Indonesia and identifying with its culture but discriminated against because of his father's descent, Harsono finally seems to be reaching some peace about who he is.

At least that is the impression of his photo-etching titled Tubuhku Adalah Lahan (My Body is Arable Land). Lifting up his head, the image, as in a photographic multiple exposure, seems to be resigned to putting his problems in the hands of the omnipotent one, his hands stretched up and plants growing on them. He is declaring that, "I am only the land on which my wife and my children plant the seed of the future".

He is getting there, but perhaps still needs time to reconcile the feelings about alienation and the pain of discrimination against him. Although personal experience may have fed his sociopolitical works of the past, today, when everybody has the right to their say, he can speak for and about himself. Perhaps now is the right time to overcome the pain once and for all, and deal with those nightmares.

-- Carla Bianpoen