Tiarma D.R Sirait have been actively involved in many events - fashion shows, traditional-textile developments, or contemporary art exhibitions - in Indonesia and abroad. As a fashion designer, Tiarma creates works that do not show the mainstream tendency in the fashion industry or in haute couture. She prefers to create dresses and clothes that are more personal and whose use will be limited - for example in band or theatrical performances, or in parties. Some of her designs have a specific theme, connected with an issue or with some youthful lifestyles. Sometimes she puts the themes forward in a sarcastic way.

The use of various fibers and many synthetic elements is dominant in her works and defies the conventional wisdom in the fashion industry. In her 1999 WEARABLE shows in Yogyakarta and Ubud, Bali, Tiarma displayed her kinky and sensual lines, worn on the opening night by young female models. The irony shown in the particular lines revealed a gender problem, where women are eternally situated under the male gaze, the male libidinal urges, and the commodification of the global industry.

Through her works, Tiarma tries to touch everyone's heart and at the same time questions the conventional norms, so that everything that results from this artistic strategy becomes highly provocative. Take, for example, the works in her 2001 exhibition in Bandung, where she displayed her three-dimensional designs. By using tapestry, carpets, and other interior elements, Tiarma reconstructed the meanings of the matters into forms of metaphors. She thus transformed these interior elements into a playful language, moving around in the realms of collective memories of the industrial age, providing fictional surprises just like in a world of fantasy, in cartoon strips, or in games.

In Synthetic Love, Tiarma told of love whose essence could no longer be found nowadays. "Love" is put in the metaphors of brightly colored dresses, corsets, gloves, handbags, and hats, using signs from artificial and synthetic matters such as plastic and nylons. The design reminded us more of the imaginative world of today's children. As a whole, Tiarma's works have so far been a reflection of the contemporary art world, where the lines dividing "art" and other forms of visual artistic endeavors - e.g. fashion - are disappearing.

Rifky Effendi

Born on October 14, 1968 in Bandung.
Studied at Bandung Institute of Technology (ITB), Bandung (BFA; 1994), Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (RMIT), Australia (1997).

SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2001 Kedai Kebun Gallery, Yogyakarta.

SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS
1999 "ANTIRAPE", Yogyakarta and Ubud, Bali; "VIETNAM ROSE", Contemporary Batik, Ipoh Arts Festival IV ’99, Malaysia.
2001 "Message of Medium" (Contemporary Art Craft Exhibition), Bandung Art Event (BAE), Bandung.
2001-2002 "26 Women Artists", JakArt@2001, Bentara Budaya Art Centre, Jakarta.
2002 5 Fiber Art Artists, Lontar Gallery, Jakarta; "Rhizoma Exhibition", British Council, Jakarta; "TALI IKAT : FIBER CONNECTIONS", Culture Centre, Yogyakarta.

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