In many things, traditional knowledge puts women in important and equal positions in the social life. This is revealed by Maria Madeira through her artworks inspired by the tais cloth motif to talk about female knowledge and strength as well as their role in the society of Timor-Leste, but often faced with the irony of numerous cases of violence against Timor women. Ika Arista, an artist as well as a female kris maker from Madura, presents a series of objects in the installation ‘Sékep’ (2021), to show the belief of Madura sailors in keris, stamboel, and primbon as amulets. Such local beliefs and knowledge are still practiced by the Madura people living in the coastal area. Meanwhile, Dyah Retno who had the opportunity to join a residency in Mollo mountains presents her encounter with the earthenware tradition of the culture of Lapitans deemed as the ancestors of Austronesian and Melanesian people in Oceania. Through the ceramic installation entitled ‘Tanah Timor’ (2021), Dyah Retno retraces the remaining knowledge of earthenware production and the traditional value that puts everyone in equal position.
This exhibition also displays the artworks of Agus Ongge, a bark craftsman and painter from Asei Island, in collaboration with the artist Mella Jaarsma in the costume installation entitled ‘Pertama Ada Hitam’ (2021). Agus Ongge’s practice and knowledge in processing bark as Papuan clothing material are presented together with a video discussing the binary position of traditional and contemporary art practices in a critical manner. In addition, there are sound-based artworks from Radio Isolasido, an artistic project developed by the multidisciplinary artist Wok The Rock and the composer Gatot Danar Sulistiyanto, which offers an ensemble of narrative and non-narrative sound recordings, such as songs, poems, conversations, synthetic sounds, as well as natural and social atmosphere sounds based on isolated things. Through the ensemble, Radio Isolasido presents a space and time to listen particularly to something strange or new to trigger the sensibility of senses for understanding other things and cultures comprehensively. In the video series entitled “RYUKYU KAIDAN—Horror stories from Ryukyu” (2021), Yudai Kamisato explores the habit of Okinawa islands’ inhabitants who like to share ghost stories. Seeing the historical side of a region through horror stories developing in the society becomes something that makes sense, in view of the dark past history of Okinawa affected by the Pacific War.
Several artists and art collectives use Jogja Biennale XVI as a social platform to amplify the works made beyond the artwork production framework in general. In addition to being a place for distributing information on their focus of attention, this event is also used as a way to meet more people to get involved in building collective solidarity and networking for their further work. For example, A Pond is the Reverse of an Island, a collective solidarity network working with refugees at a camp in Kalideres, Jakarta and other refugees across Indonesia, held various workshops to activate the artworks displayed in the exhibition room. The workshops included naan bread making using the Afghan tanoor (clay oven) and making post cards for children. All donations obtained from the workshops were donated for the needs of the refugees. Similar thing was also performed by badan Kajian Pertanahan who worked together with mothers in Jatiwangi to develop ‘Mother Bank’ (2021), an alternative bank project as a criticism of credit practices and sovereignty problems in the rural areas. In this exhibition, Badan Kajian Pertanahan invites the visitors to loan their money as a trial of collective resource management and processing.
Dapur Umum 56, an initiative formed by the collective Ruang Mes 56 due to the Covid-19 pandemic, also participates in Biennale Jogja by holding an art event, cooking and eating together aimed at meeting with and connecting to various groups, particularly friends originating in eastern Indonesia. Through various activities, Dapur Umum 56 collaborates with many communities in Yogyakarta to serve coastal cuisine, as a way to know each other and to start conversation. In line with the proverb “out of sight, out of mind”, the people living in eastern Indonesia still frequently face various forms of racism and stereotype. For example, the indigenous Papuans are still often framed in a particular stereotype. A young artist Miki Wuka, a member of the art collective Indonesia Art Movement (IAM), responds to this issue through the artwork entitled ‘e-KTP Bukan Alat Jerat’ (2021) where he displays dozens of fake resident ID cards having the same name but with different photos and identities. Miki Wuka perceives that in practice many Papuans are borrowing the resident identity card from each other because there is a racial view that all indigenous Papuans have similar faces.
Racism-related experience constitutes an integral part of the diaspora community life. Various forms of prejudice, stereotype, or even rejection are often faced by them in many places. The tension between stereotype and identity view becomes relevant for discussion, particularly on how the diaspora communities articulate their root of identity in daily life. The artwork of Edith Amituanai, a Samoan diaspora artist currently residing in Auckland, displays a series of photographs entitled ‘Interiors from Anchorage, Apia, AKL’ (2004–2008) telling about the characteristics of diaspora community in arranging rooms and objects in their houses. Edith’s photographs, which are non-dramatic and show daily circumstances, instead strongly speak of the minority. Amid the strong encouragement to adapt to the surrounding environment, diaspora people instead remain firm on their original cultural root. Shivanjani Lal, an artist of Indian descent whose family migrated to Fiji and then became Australian citizens, evokes the faded memories of her ancestors uprooted from their homeland. Her artwork ‘5 Prayers for 5 Generation’ (2021) recounts the hurly-burly of sugar industry and the ships carrying thousands of slaves in the colonial era, amongst whom were her ancestors. Jumaadi, an artist from Sidoarjo currently residing in Sydney, views the issue of migration felt by many humans on earth through his own experience. Like a wanderer, he understands the events of meeting and separation, fortune and misfortune, comedy and tragedy, as something that usually occurs in the human journey. He pours forth this experience in an artwork series entitled ‘Asal Muasal’ (2021) created using the medium of carving on buffalo skin.