Profile

Syagini Ratna Wulan

Inspire,
question
solve

&
I

t's possible that a person can go through

life without ever having any healthy
outlets for relieving pent-up emotions.
Thats why anxiety is a thing and the
same holds true for repression and nervous
breakdowns.
Indonesian artist Syagini Ratna Wulans
latest creation, Catharsis, has addressed this
age-old issue in a novel manner.
Held from July 25 to 26 at Art Stage
Singapore with the support of the Mizuma
Gallery and Gillman Barracks; Syagini's
Catharsis, a participatory performance art
piece, gave the audience a chance to creatively
cleanse themselves of negative energy.
It took place in an empty gallery with text
diagrams such as belief and institution
written on the wall. Visitors were given plates
and invited to write words on them before
throwing the plates against the wall, taking aim
at words that resonated with them.
Post-event, all pieces of broken plates will
be collected into a sculptural memento mori
[rememberance] that could be exhibited in one

WORDS Prasiddha Gustanto Photos courtesy SYAGINI RATYNA WULAN

form or another, for example, an element

of sound could be added, the 36-yearold Syagini said in a pre-performance
interview.
This, in turn, will result in a mapping
of our emotional lives: in different urban
settings, different obsessions will find their
release in each of Catharsis installments.
The emotions and obsessions explored
in the work are typical themes for Syagini,
who focuses on human behavior through
what she refers to as the lens of interdisciplinarity.
Art is not merely a visual indulgence.
There are so many layers behind it capable
of awakening the unconscious to react,
Syagini said. [Art can] inspire, question and
solve things through a universal language.

If I were a color
Id be metallic
As a child
I was boyish
My guilty pleasure is
Nothingness
My hidden talent
Mind reader
Words I use too often
Seperti itu [Like that]
The artwork that defines me best
I think the more recent the piece, the
more layers of myself embodied in it.
Five years from now
I will look older
What keeps me busy
Gardening
I would never say
Never
In three words I am
Woman in millions

Most prized item

A lion skull
The person who inspires me most
Christo [of Christo and JeanneClaude fame]
What makes me laugh
Love
What makes me cry
Love
Dont ever call me
Mister
People will be surprised to know
I have three dogs
My life in a movie
Princess Mononoke
If I was not an artist
I would be a scientist
I cant stand
Waiting
My life motto
I can only pretend to pretend

Eka's Korean breakthrough

WORDS Prasiddha Gustanto Photo courtesy eka kurniawan

Ask readers from around the globe to

name their favorite contemporary Japanese
novelists and theyll likely answer Haruki
Murakami or Kenzaburo Oe. Ask them
to name even one Indonesian author and
theyre bound to get stumped.
Eka Kurniawans steadily growing
international popularity, however, is poised
to change this.
Born of Sundanese descent in Tasikmalaya,
West Java, in 1975, Eka has been described as
the brightest meteorite in contemporary
Indonesian literature. His bibliography
includes three novels, several short stories
and a number of non-fiction pieces.
Eka has also been included on Publishers
Weeklys list of Writers to Watch and been
positively compared to Salman Rushdie,
Gabriel Garcia Marquez and Mark Twain.
After half a century, wrote renowned

Indonesia scholar Benedict Anderson,

Pramoedya Ananta Toer has found a
successor.
His ability to combine history, satire, family
tragedy, legend, humor and romance is very
unique, noted Anna Soler-Pont, founder
and director of the Pontas Agency, which
handles the world rights for Ekas works.
The writer has found resonance with
with readers across the world. Now, hes
poised for a breakthrough in South Korea,
a country with no previous significant
appreciation of Indonesian letters.
Sohyun Park of South Korean publishing
house Maybooks is currently translating
two of Ekas novels, Cantik Itu Luka
(Beauty Is a Wound) and Lelaki Harimau
(Tiger Man), both of which are slated for
release in 2017.
For Park, Kurniawans works have been
captivating from the get-go.
When I started to read Cantik Itu Luka,
I was thrilled by the very first sentence,
Sore hari di akhir pekan bulan Maret, Dewi

Ayu bangkit dari kuburan setelah dua puluh

satu tahun kematian. [One afternoon on a
weekend in March, Dewi Ayu rose from the
grave after 21 years of death.]
This kind of setting and imagination
never happens in South Korean literature,
where the sphere is always too confined in
realism, Park said.
Ekas works incredibly represent
Indonesias history as a family chronicle.
I wish South Korea had this kind of novel
about its own past. At the same time [Ekas
novels] are also very contemporary, so I
thought they could be really great references
for South Korean readers, she said.
Ekas introduction to South Korean
readers will mark a big step forward for
Indonesian literature in that country.
Even Pramoedya Ananta Toers works
have not properly translated, Park says.
This is the very first chance to seriously
introduce Indonesian literature, which
has been totally ignored so far, to Korean
readers.

Eka says that the lack of international

interest in Indonesian literature is part
of a general problem. Lets face it: there
are almost no Vietnamese, Malay, Iranian,
Korean, etc., representations in world
literature nowadays, he said in an email
interview.
The world is dominated by the English
language. At the same time, only three
percent [of ] books published in English
every year are translations. Its not a good
figure for world literature.
Eka also thinks that Indonesian
literature might need a change of focus.
Localism is a good thing, and unique,
but can be misdirected into provincialism.
If our literature cares only about ourselves,
why should the world have to take a look at
ours? he said.
Great literature is always about a dialog
person to person, society to society. A
culture with other cultures. We have to open
our arms to other literary traditions, and the
world will open their arms.

JPlus July 26, 2015