The man in red raised his hand to ask a question. He’s welcomed and given a mic. “If myth is merely a smoke, then what is the wick?” asked Hafiz Rancajale, the audience.
He asked this question to the two speakers of Panel B Biennale Forum, Ika Arista as a Keris artist and Otty Widasari as collaborators of the Bangsal Menggawe Festival, on Friday (8-10) afternoon. The discussion titled “Indigenous Discourse as a New Transfiguration to Art” was held at Pendopo Ajiyasa Jogja National Museum.
“I believe that myths have their origins. Where did the myths conveyed by the keris occult come from?” he asked specifically to Ika.
Ika took a moment to respond before giving an example through the myth that bans the cutting of banyan trees in her village in Madura. One day, a hurricane struck, uprooting the banyan tree. Not long after, the village was in drought. “It turns out that banyans conserve water, which means they’re conserving life. That’s the message conveyed by the myth,” he said.
Hafiz chimed in that contemporary society does not adhere to myths. “Then, this myth needs to be broken, or what?” throw it.
Ika then answered by borrowing a parable by Hafiz. “If the myth is smoke, the wick, the embers, is knowledge,” she answered while reminding the forum of the fallen banyan myth.
Myth, according to Ika, is the way of the past to preserve knowledge. Preservation of knowledge through myths (Keris) is also done by Ika herself. She took the example of her art show titled “Petodhu” (2016). “I am trying to convey the two faces of Trunojoyo, a Madurese hero and a Mataram prisoner, in one Keris blade,” he said.
Meanwhile, Otty has her own answer to the myth. “The people of Pemenang City (where the Bangsal Menggawe Festival is) are creating a new myth,” she said. Because she continued, the myth embraced by the local community is that tourism is everything.
“When there was an earthquake, tourism collapses, society collapses,” she said. Through the Bangsal Menggawe Festival, they seek to rediscover life myths to hold on to outside of tourism.
But she also disagrees with completely revoke the myth of the status quo. “Slowly. If necessary, just use tourism first to convey the desired knowledge,” she advised. She referred to one of the cottages in Pemenang that gave discounts for visitors who wanted to do social work there.
That’s what Ika also conveyed about myths. “Look at the embers (knowledge), then think about what we need to bake with it,” she said, that myths need to be used to solve current problems.
