Women's sensuality in focus
Women's sensuality in focus
Carla Bianpoen, Contributor, Jakarta
Amid the many exhibitions held in conjunction with the anniversary of the nation's heroine Raden Adjeng Kartini, two exhibitions stand out for their creative ideas and innovative mix of materials.
The first exhibition of note is the "Photo-Graphic" exhibition -- a blend of photography and graphic art -- on the second floor of Plaza Indonesia.
Rotua Magdalena Agung, a graphic artist by training, who often explores new avenues for her artistic urges, now blends advanced technology with hand-rendered techniques.
To this end, she has taken photographs by Indra Leonardi and used the photoshop program to achieve the desired results. The graphic images are then complemented with hand-rendered watercolor and gold/silver and black pigment, glitter and charcoal.
In one work, for instance, Rotua Magdalena took Leonardi's image and transformed it so that it represented a woman's search for self-identity. "Photoshop can do a lot, but it's the personal touch that provides the accent", says Rotua Magdalena.
At first, she called this kind of work "graphic painting", but then she arrived at the term "mixed media photo-graphic", which is closer to what she is doing.
Tuning into an upmarket shopping mall's campaign slogan "Woman in You" Rotua Magdalena has made a kind of installation focusing on the dynamics of being a woman.
While the installation of photo-graphics and dry leaves and branches was an excellent idea, a more fitting space would give the artwork its proper due.
Meanwhile, the audio-visual presentation is a poetic celebration of the dynamics and flow of a woman's life. For passersby, the presentation provides a moment of quiet reflection, although it is only shown on weekends.
The second interesting exhibition is held at Galeri Oktagon, where French artist Maroussia Rebecq and Indonesian artists Keke Tumbuan and Renjani Damais highlight the controversial issue of the jilbab in photo installations under the heading Like A Virgin.
There are various definitions of the jilbab, from "a full length coat or cloak" to "a cloak that conceals all of the body including the head", to just a head scarf, or fashion accessory.
Opinions on the meaning of jilbab are as varied as the modes of jilbab.
However, none of the artists wishes to enter into any such dispute. What they hope to present is just the head scarf as it is found today, and its place in fashion. However, the undertones of confused ridicule are loud and clear to serious observers. The near-sensual jilbab wearers of Maroussia's photos are juxtaposed against a sweet teenage jilbab wearer, as well as Rejani's "boxed" jilbab women and pictures of ordinary women wearing the head scarf.
Like a Virgin? Keke's tiny images in rows, which suggest a woman taking a home pregnancy test, have the same mysterious ambience as that of the traditionally perceived virgin.
Maroussia Rebecq, the initiator of this exhibition starts her "narrative" with a picture of a female head from the back, with hair peeping out from the sides of her neck, suggesting sensuality. A bamboo stick is put against her body, "to represent struggle", according to Maroussia.
A sequence of pictures like a jilbab fashion show start with drawings on a board about the use of the veil. Following, is a photograph of a sweet teenage girl wearing a jilbab, who appears like an icon with glitter glued on at all directions, like uprooted roots.
Following are photos of women wearing strapless dresses and transparent veils, or touching their bridal-like veils while their legs are spread. There are two giant photographs of women in jeans. In one photograph the subject wears a jacket with a capuchon, evoking the notion of a burka. In the other, the woman wears a blouse and pink head scarf. However, her jeans are torn, showing the white flesh beneath and underlining the ambiguity of the jilbab wearer.
Absolutely ghastly is the nude with a death mask as another kind of headdress.
To suggest the wall that surrounds the mystery of the jilbab, Maroussia places a photograph of stones next to a picture of a woman in a strapless dress, who cries out in frustration.
There is also a photograph of a woman in a sleeveless dress, her head is covered and she rides a motorbike. This is beyond the imagining of many Westerners, to whom the jilbab is associated with narrow-mindedness and the sexist dynamics of religion.
While breaking the monotony of the space with a black transparent curtain, Maroussia puts the accent on horror by suspending a puppet in the fashion of Halloween.
Less provocative are the photos of Keke Tambunan, a graduate of the Amsterdam Photo Academy, who tries to keep her comments as subdued as possible in tiny little shots, which reveal their true nature only on closer observation.
For Renjani Damais, a sculptor by profession, who fills the right corner of the space with installations, the jilbab is both imprisonment and fashion. Twenty-one tiny boxes with doors, made with great precision, are hung against the wall. Each contains a photograph of a woman wearing a jilbab. In addition, she has displayed 28 photos of various woman wearing Muslim dress and jilbabs. To complete the installation, Renjani has hung 17 portraits of women wearing the jilbab at various heights from the ceiling.
Although the exhibition is a veiled critique of the ambiguity of the veil, it is at the same time an eye-opener to the fact that the meaning of the jilbab is undergoing a radical transition.
The Woman in You Mixed Media Photo-Graphics Plaza Indonesia: Until April 30
Like A Virgin Photo Installation Galeri Oktagon Gunung Sahari Raya 50A Jakarta Pusat Until May 15, 2004