Solichin uses art, faith and logic to heal patients
Solichin uses art, faith and logic to heal patients
By T. Sima Gunawan
JAKARTA (JP): Art transcends consciousness to allow people to find peace and spiritual happiness.
For Ahmad Afif Solichin, an artist and healer, art means love and is the source of happiness. Solichin expresses his love in his "spiritual drawings", which he makes for his patients.
Before the healing process starts, Solichin makes a rajah (drawing of human anatomy) to give spiritual confidence to both the healer and the patient.
The rajah is full of symbolic circles and lines. Arabic words from the Koran also grace the drawing.
Some drawings are black and white, others are colorful.
Solichin also works on canvas using oil and water colors. Like his drawings, the paintings are full of baffling symbols.
"Spirituality can't be explained," he said.
Many things about Solichin can't be explained. One of them is his power to remove tumors from fully conscious patients.
One of the patients, Suwarno, 36, said he did not feel any pain during the operation. He didn't see any blood, either.
"The tumor was bigger than this," he said, raising his left fist.
Suwarno and Solichin were in Jakarta late last month at the opening of Dharma Gallery, which sells Solichin's art.
Suwarno, a resident of Kraci, a small town near Batangan in Central Java, said the tumor had grown in his back for six years when Solichin came to the town in 1993.
Suwarno, who strongly believed that Solichin could remove the tumor, didn't hesitate when Solichin said he would operate to remove the tumor.
The operation took place at midnight and lasted 35 minutes.
"I was totally cured," Suwarno said.
Asked how much he had to pay, Suwarno said the healer did not set any tariff, leaving it to the patient's ability.
Born in Demak, Central Java, in 1973, Solichin claims he became a healer when he was nine. He apparently inherited the talent from his parents and his grandfather. Although his only sister also has the gift of healing, Solichin is the only one in the family who draws and paints. He started drawing and painting in the third grade.
Solichin said he draws and paints for "social purposes".
"My art is the art of love, the source of happiness. Everyone, not only Moslems, can enjoy my works," he said.
Solichin works very fast. He can draw a rajah in a few seconds.
"You might not believe it, but I can finish painting on a canvas of that size within ten minutes," he said, pointing to a painting measuring over one-meter wide and two-meters long.
He said he produces 800 drawings and paintings in three months.
Belgium
Solichin is now preparing to go to Belgium for his first major drawing exhibition. It will take place in the Museum of Contemporary Art in Gent between Dec. 4 and Jan. 14.
Quoting the museum director, Jan Hoet, Solichin said that Europeans want to see alternative art because they have been saturated with conservative art.
"I have sent 300 of my works to Belgium," he said.
Solichin said his drawings support the healing process by giving spiritual confidence. The different symbols relate to the patient's conditions. He has designed more than 2,000 symbols.
Solichin studies the symbols, human anatomy and traditional medicine from old books in his family's library. Some of the books are written in Arabic, Kawi (old Javanese) and Sanskirt. he also gets advice from his parents and grandparents
He constantly travels and sometimes sleeps at the roadside.
"I need freedom. I don't want to stay in a 'golden nest'. Wandering is important to keep the balance in my life," he explained.
He said that once he walked for two-and-a-half months, from Madura, an island in East Java, to Aceh on the northern tip of Sumatra.
Solichin specializes in healing patients who are partially paralyzed from hypertension. But he says he also treats people with cancer, tumors, leukemia and liver problems.
"I am not a dukun (faith healer). I also use logic in the healing process," he said.
He gives the patients antibiotics and some traditional medicines, including Chinese medicines and herbal concoctions he formulates himself.
There are three crucial elements in the healing process: God, the patient and the medicine, Solichin insisted.
Solichin was a vegetarian for over seven years, but started to eat meat and fish again in 1990.
"I have to be really fit for my activities," he said.
"I feel exhausted... my brain is worn out every time I finish healing a patient. The healing process takes a lot of spiritual energy."