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<< Seminar Essays List
The
Role of Identity in the Realization of Artworks
Anusapati
As an artist of the 1980s generation (the years that I began working),
the issue of identity has been a focus of attention in connection with
the exploratory efforts I have done within the process of creating my
works of art. The issue of seeking a "national identity" within
the realization of art in Indonesia has actually been debated for a long
time. In fact this debate has been going on since the time of Indonesia"s
independence. The painter Sujoyono was among those who were most persistent
and articulate about advocating the development of painting in the direction
of "a new Indonesian painting style".
The issue of identity then emerged again as an important argument when
the political interests of the government caused those in power to consider
it important to seek out a format of "national personality/character"
within the realization of art and culture in the 1970s. Among the art
circles, this issue reached a climax with the "Black December Incident",
in which a statement was issued by several young artists in Yogyakarta
against the results of the jury decisions made at the Indonesian Art Exhibition
in 1974 awarding the Best Work prizes to a number of senior painters.
The works thus honored, which were almost all decorative in style, were
considered to have brought forth a strong tendency toward an "Indonesian
national identity".
As a member of the "transitional generation", of course, the
idea of "seeking an Indonesian national identity" through the
creation of modern artworks was something that had permeated the basic
spirit of my creative process from the very beginning. Many of the artists
of the 1970s and early 1980s adhered to the idea and worked toward the
goal of finding and realization a form of Indonesian modern art that continued
to bear the characteristics of the local culture while using the "universal"
language that had become the accepted guide. However, the Black December
Incident, and then the painter Oesman Effendi"s statement that "Indonesian
painting (read this as "art") does not exist" at the very
least made the artists aware that the concept of an Indonesian personality/character
in the form of art was absurd.
Several of my works done at the beginning of the 1980s clearly contain
indications of this search. The abstract bio-morphic (within the context
of formalism) images I used were among the universal idioms that were
strong influences from European sculptors, such as Brancusi, Jean Arp,
Henry Moore, Barbara Hepworth and others, even though there were always
strong elements showing a local characteristic about them, including ornamental
and other elements. However, after a time this effort brought no satisfaction,
and it even began to feel like I was heading down a dead-end street.
The Issue of Cultural Identity
The presence of the post-modern discourse in the era of the 1980s caused
the emergence of pluralism within the realization of contemporary artworks,
replacing the universalism that was previously believed to be the characteristic
of modern art. Within this post-modern discourse, difference and diversity
were acceptable, and even became the characteristics of this framework
of thought. In the development of Indonesian art during that period, the
issue of identity shifted somewhat into a special position; that being
a shift from the perception of "national identity" that was
political in nature to the perception of a cultural identity that was
based in the background of the culture.
The influence of globalization was newly felt in Indonesia in the 1990s
due to the increased speed of exchange of information and a greater occurrence
of international travel both in and out of the country, and the influx
of foreign visitors. The increased number of visits by artists, curators
and collectors from abroad to Indonesia, as well as the reverse, that
being visits by our artists abroad for study, residencies, or even exhibitions,
have had a major influence in relation to the changes taking place. This
was also the case with my own trip to study overseas, which brought a
major and radical change to my artworks.
These changes have continued to occur in my artworks since I was in the
United States. Being in a foreign place among foreigners (it is said that
in New York "everyone is a stranger"), gave rise to an awareness
of the meaning of an identity. Who are we, among other people, with languages
and customs that are different from one another"s? Identity is not
simply a question concerning what makes us different from other people,
that being everything concerned with origin, history and memory, but is
rather an awareness of the element of culture within current conditions
as well as situations to come. This is because identity will always play
a role in determining the position and the patterns of interaction between
"the self" and "the other".
The seeking and thinking about identity also brought forth a collective
memory of the treasury of local culture of my own people. The traditions,
mythologies and cosmologies that live among the ethnic societies that
we originate from, including those of the past, are a part of identity.
This is also true of the beliefs, hopes, dreams and aspirations, that
play a part in "forming" an identity, so that in such a way
that identity itself becomes something dynamic. In relation to this "
according to Stuart Hall (in "Cultural Identity and Diaspora")
" cultural identity is an accumulation of "essential identity"
(given, static) and "hybrid identity" (created, dynamic in character).
It is this collective memory, which, among other things, began to emerge
in my artworks through forms that carried ethnic characteristics, either
through local symbols or through metaphoric forms that were more universal.
This cultural identity, to me, constituted steps taken within relationships
and interactions with other individuals, and with other ethnic groups
and peoples.
In this global age, in which geographical borders tend to disappear and
communication between human beings in all the different parts of the world
become increasing intense, the issue of cultural identity is decidedly
crucial. Within the process of globalization itself there exists a singularly
and truly problematic paradox, in particular in relation to the representation
of art. On one hand, the art of today continues to exhibit the use of
universal idioms along with the global issues that have become mutual
concerns, so that contemporary art is basically an expression or statement
in relation to a certain issue that has a common ground that eliminates
the boundaries of regions and cultures. But, on the other hand, identity
becomes an important matter because within the communicative relationships
among human beings and peoples, identity will determine the positions
of the parties involved. This paradoxical phenomena is one of the characteristic
elements of contemporary art in Indonesia, which sets forth actual themes
that have become global issues, such as socio-politics, human rights,
ecology/the environment, gender/feminism, as well as ethnic matters, through
any number of artistic forms, as well as expression through the use of
idioms that are universal in nature, in which localness always arises
as a mode of operation determining the cultural identity of the artist.
Anusapati is an artist work based in Yogyakarta. He is also a lecturer
of the Indonesian Art Institute, Yogyakarta.
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