FlagsArahmaiani
Raised by an Islamic scholar father and a Javanese Hindu-Buddhist mother, Arahmaiani is a key figure in the current art scene in Indonesia. Recently Arahmaiani has been using the Malay world’s variation of Arabic script, called Jawi, for her performances and installations. Because of Jawi’s interesting ability to phonetically reproduce the sounds of other languages, and its capacity to connect the world of Islam to the non-Muslim world, she has used the script to deliver a variety of messages in a number of different places around the world. China, Australia, the Middle East, Germany, Japan, and now in New York.
She has sent two flags to Performa Hub that feature the words “mind” and “courage” in Jawi script, suggesting universal words commonly used worldwide today despite language barriers. The orange with blue colour of text in Jawi with word “Nyali” means “Courage,” the red one with yellow text colour with word of Aqal (means Mind).
In Arahmaiani words “Jawi embodies an important cultural heritage that is still alive in Southeast Asia’s Muslim world, it is also living proof of flexible and hybrid cultural practices in the Muslim world. In numerous cases Jawi is also used to compose a form or stand in as a constellation to produce an image (like a good Wayang figure for example). In recent years, the script has been abused in two different camps, the radical Islam as well as the Western media which started distorting the meaning of this symbolic form of script, imposing the idea that it suggests terror and fright for example.”
Arahmaiani’s (born in 1961 in Bandung, West Java) performances, pictures and installations reflect on contemporary geopolitics while criticizing the commoditization of symbols. Navigating through different cultures (Islam and Buddhism, traditional education and studies in Europe and the United States), her work responds to the difficulties of communication she finds recurrently while traveling abroad – or even inside her own country – and seeks to create a platform for exchange and collective thinking beyond cultural differences. She has exhibited widely in Southeast Asia, Japan, and Australia and also had work featured in the Traditions/Tensions show at Asia Society and Global Feminisms at the Brooklyn Museum. She was included in the Havana Biennale in 1997 and in Cities on the Move at P.S.1 Contemporary Arts Center and London’s Hayward Gallery in 1998. Her Corporeal Apology was in the Lyon Biennale in 2000 and 11 June 2002 at Venice Biennale in 2003.
Presented by Performa. Organized by Defne Ayas.
