There is no better way to comprehend the meaning of the detailed and expertly drafted drawings of Sekar Jatiningrum than simply listening to the artist's own comments on those drawings. Sekar's drawings make up a kind of diary in which the artist's daily experiences in this life and in the specific world of imagination are noted. It is within the thin membrane that separates these two worlds that we can find Sekar's conceptual base and frame of thought.

Sekar once created a series of drawings with the title Happy Ending (2000). These drawings depict an underground dwelling shaped like a mouse tunnel. "From the outside, the house cannot be seen," this artist commented. Sekar exposes the rooms within this underground home through a series of segmented drawings much like those done for architectural planning.

In this underground dwelling, women can be seen going about their daily activities. Their faces are bright and happy. Sekar presents views of three different women in three different tunnels or passageways doing three different kinds of activities. In the first passageway a woman is seen playing with a swing, in the second the woman is thoughtfully and introspectively digging in the earth, and in the third, a woman is seen painting. These women are representative of Sekar. "This is me, this is me, and this is me," Sekar says.

Still within the dwelling beneath the ground, Sekar depicts a middle-aged woman relaxing in an otherwise empty family room. This woman is enjoying the melody of a song drifting in from the next room. In the adjacent room, four women are seen dancing. These women are not representative of Sekar, they are friends of Sekar who live within an underground "space of solidarity".

Sekar's drawing, titled Sayangi Ibu (Love Mother) (2000), at first glance appears to be a family photograph. In this drawing, a mother is depicted as standing in the central portion of the picture. She is holding a little boy who is seen a little to the right in her embrace. On her other side is a grown man in a slightly diagonal pose. It turns out that the drawing is not a family portrait at all: of mother, father and child. "Both of the male figures are this mother's child," Sekar explains while pointing at the two male figures. "This is the boy child when he is still small, and this is him as an adult."

If one takes a very careful and close look at this drawing, what Sekar has said about it becomes immediately clear. Upon closer examination of the drawing, it can be seen that the woman that Sekar has positioned in the center of the drawing is holding not only the little boy, but also the adult figure. The adult male figures is not standing on his own two legs, because, indeed, he has no legs to stand on. Sekar has abbreviated this figure at the waist, and whether the adult male depicted likes it or not, he must "hang" on the woman standing beside him. This is not at all like the implication of the title, Love Mother, that brings to mind a mother's gently counseling her children. Sekar uses imagination in this drawing to play around, to think, and to state an opinion. It turns out that Sekar's comments on the world of women are sharp indeed.

Jim Supangkat

Born on June 10, 1969 in Yogyakarta.
Studied at Indonesia Institute of The Arts (ISI), Yogyakarta (1995).

SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2002 "Stupid Face Behind the Curtain", Kedai Kebun Gallery, Yogyakarta.
2001 "Monologue", Edwin Gallery, Jakarta.

SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS
1998 "Messages from Distortion", Benteng Vredeburg Museum, Yogyakarta.
1999 Yogyakarta Fine Art Biennale VI, Purna Budaya Art Centre, Yogyakarta.
2000 "Night Scream", Embun Gallery, Yogyakarta.
2001 "Reading Frida Kahlo", Nadi Gallery, Jakarta; "Melik Ngendong Lali", Bentara Budaya Art Centre, Yogyakarta.
2002 "Urip Mampir Ngombe", Bentara Budaya Art Centre, Yogyakarta; "Together", City Mural, organized by Apotik Komik, Yogyakarta.
2003 "Love", Nadi Gallery, Jakarta.

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