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