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Published on December 23, 2007

They may not have sat at the negotiating table, but a group of Indonesian artists did contribute to the two-week UN-sponsored conference on global warming which ended here last week by raising public awareness through their creations.

The 16 local artists displayed a wide range of work that touch upon the phenomenon of global climate change in an exhibition called "AR[t]CHIPELAGO ALERT: Art Against Global Warming".

"I'd heard about the plan to hold the [conference] here, so I discussed it with several artist friends, and they agreed to raise public awareness on this global issue," said artist Tony Hartawan, who owns the Tony Raka Art Gallery, at which the exhibition was held.

The gallery is in Ubud, an hour's drive from the UN conference venue at Nusa Dua.

The exhibition, which closes on January 8, features 36 works, including paintings, sculptures and installations, based on the theme of climate change.

The artists taking part are Agung Mangu Putra, Agus Suwage, FX Harsono, Tisna Sanjaya, Yani M Sastranegara, Altje Ully, Titarubi, Anusapati, Awan Wimatupang, AS Kurnia, Dicky Tjandra, Pande Ketut Taman, Ketut Susena, Rudy Sri Handoko, Ronald Wigman and Filippo Sciascia.

"We need everyone to lend a hand to address the issue, and cooperation must begin from inside the heart, so I provided my works for the exhibition," said Yani, a 52-year-old artist from Jakarta.

Yani expressed her deep feelings through three brass sculptures titled "Pray to God", "Pray Together" and "Exodus".

"As an artist, I think we can talk only a little about the solutions, so let's pray first of all, and then we must do everything possible today to address the issue," said the mother of three.

Artist Altje said her three works represented the crisis, the urgency of solutions and the root cause, which was human.

"I picked pieces of a dead tree from the street and fixed them with metal knots and named the pieces 'Reconstructed-Decon-structed'," she explained of one of her pieces.

"In another one I used metal hands, representing humans, touching the top of a piece of wood, representing forests, while the base is black metal representing Mother Nature, and all linked with red streaks like bleeding. It tells how we destroy forests and nature and finally our actions return to kill us," Altje said of her work "This Property is Condemned".

 

"This one is the alert," she said, pointing to a brass sculpture of a sinking boat.

Another artist Awan, 40, mixed wood, metal and brass in his four works to portray

climate, nature and humanity. In one of his works, he installed rows of fire hydrants that looked as if they were spurting flame instead of water.

"I believe that we are all in the same house, which is this earth, and under the same Mother Nature. We cannot live without nature. It is important that all of us should realise this fact," Awan said.

Since its grand opening on December 8 the exhibition has drawn a large number of visitors, especially from the UN climate talks, said organiser Tony.

"Seven of the 36 [works] were sold within days of the opening. One was bought by a senior officer from the Singaporean Finance Ministry," he said.

"I worked hard for a year to prepare for this event. In fact we did not have proper sponsorship when the exhibition planned, even though we did propose the event to many Indonesian government and UN bodies for support as we believe it will raise public awareness at both local and international levels, but none of them agreed to pay; we only got small financial support from a private source. I had to shoulder most of the expenses, which should be covered by the sale of some pieces," Tony said.

"The money is also like a reward for our artists," he said. "While it's not financially worthwhile, the event has served as a wake-up call on the climate crisis," he added.

Many local students are being invited to see the exhibition as well.

"We try to play our part as well as we can; we hope others will do their bit too. With this, we might finally be able to save the world as we intended. Now is the time to think globally and act locally," he said.

Asked about the UN conference, Tony said it was a good start for world leaders sit and talk together but it might take time for fruitful results that could heal the world.

"Thus cultural action is also needed around the world on this issue. Awareness is an important factor," he added.

Kamol Sukin

The Nation

Nusa Dua, Indonesia