Women artists given due recognition

Women artists given due recognition

Carla Bianpoen, Contributor, Semarang

On December 18, Galeri Semarang in Central Java launched yet another of its initiatives in the world of art in Indonesia.

It did so by giving space to young women artists whose names have no record in the annals of the visual art market. The exhibition, titled No Name, and the talk that followed provoked animated discussion, at which male members of the public in particular showed remarkable resistance to the idea of an exhibition dedicated to the work of women.

While the technical quality of the works is as varied as the depth of thought and concept, the works nevertheless denote the courage of young women, all aged from 24 to 29, to tell their life stories.

For Francy Vidriany, who finds herself between values of patriarchal tradition and modern concepts relating to women, life is an intense wrestle.

Living in a state of premonition that something powerful is taking hold of her body as a result of changing visions on gender relations, she expresses her agony of uncertainty in her large canvases of oils mixed with charcoal, titled Sesuatu Terjatuh kedalam Dirinya (Something struck her, 185cm by 165cm) and Sesuatu sedang menuju kedalam dirinya (Something is coming into her being).

Riuh di Tengah (80cm by 80cm) and Voices Transforming a Circle (185cm by 165cm) are like vistas of the inner skeleton. Her mode of expression, supported by an excellent command of technique, make her canvases bring to mind worlds of stirring chaos occurring within the frame of an emaciated figure.

A nominee of the Indofood Awards in 2003, Francy, who graduated in visual communications design from the School of Art and Design at Trisakti University, has been painting ever since she was a child, but took a break during her years as a student.

In 1998 she decided to return to her childhood pursuit and has since participated in several local exhibitions.

For Lashita Situmorang, however, the new visions are a matter of fact and part of life. Globalization has worked as an equalizer, she contends, pointing out that men and women struggle equally to survive.

Her paintings, titled Peace Together (100cm by 80cm), Inside my underwear, Drunkaholic (50cm by 40cm) and Living Real (50cm by 40cm), could be described as a form of pop art.

It is quite different when it comes to young mothers like Tennessee Caroline and Rini Maulina, who spend most of their time taking care of their small children.

Tennessee Caroline, in her poster-like images painted in oil on canvas and titled Mom's dress, Look at me, Smoking? (80cm by 60cm) and Red Devil I (150cm by 150cm), warns that there is more to children then meets the eye, particularly when they try to imitate grown-ups.

Rini Maulina's images of baby faces in 100cm by 100cm and 150 by 150cm paintings, titled All I Want is Mom, Morning Turn to Night, Orange Day, Blue Day and Purple Day, seem to say the same thing, although in her case it is her children's facial expressions captured in intimate mother-child moments that strike her more than anything else.

"I wanted to reveal such intimacy, not with the usual image of a child sitting on its mother's lap, but in my child's facial expression at that moment," she says.

For Dwi Kartika Rahayu, falling in love held some painful disappointments. Her large painting, whose angry, yellow acrylic strokes on an orange base (150cm by 120cm), titled Biarkan api yang bicara (Let the fires speak), are reminiscent of hell-fire, denotes a terrible anger at a disappointing love story.

"But I did not want to pursue my anger, I needed to keep it at bay," said the artist pointing to her painting Tetesan Kesejukan (Cooling down) of the same colors and size, where she lets a line of white paint drip over the canvas as a symbol of drips of cold water, though her loving heart had turned to stone (as seen in Membatukan (Turning to stone).

This doesn't mean she has given up her dream of having a little house with a garden amid the shady trees. Her dream of paradise is expressed with soft pastel colors in a mixed media (acrylic and pencil) painting measuring 70cm by 60cm.

To explore one's body is no new phenomenon in adolescents, but young women may do so to find an answer as to whom they are and what they want.

This is the case with Lelyana K. in Show Action 1 and 2 who paints her minimalist nudes with long hair rising on end, floating in an empty space, denoting she is in a limbo as to where she stands as a woman, while Stay Cool shows a figure against a dominating dim blue.

Meanwhile, Lia Mareza's bare figures in Rapuh (Vulnerable), 100cm by 80cm in mixed media, shows an emaciated, gray nude with hanging head on a yellowish canvas filled with differently colored umbrellas denoting the notion "don't despair".

In Proses (Process), faceless, abstract nudes (90cm by 60cm) reveal an awakening that comes to fruition in Kembali ke Teknologi (Back to technology), a canvas 100cm by 80cm in pink and green pastels showing cyclists in a field. Lia said she wanted to reveal her artistic and technical evolution.

As women activists prepare to commemorate Dec. 22 as the day of women's awakening 74 years ago, one wonders why women artists born 50 years later still seem to be shackled between tradition and change.

In that sense, the initiative of Galeri Semarang deserves to be followed by others.

No Name An exhibition of 7 women artists Galeri Semarang, Dec. 18 through Dec. 31 Jl. Dr. Cipto 10, Semarang Central Java tel (024) 3540068