Art and human rights

Living Art: Indonesian Artists Engage Politics, Society and History

“…As discussed further by Kent (Chapter 2) and Yuliman (Chapter 3), Sudjojono implored Indonesian artists to observe, internalise and express the reality of everyday life for ordinary Indonesians through their paintings, a process he called the 'visible soul' (jiwa ketok). 23 In response to Dutch art critic J. Hopman's comment that an Indonesian art had yet to emerge, Sudjojono wrote: About the future of Indonesian art, we as Indonesians are quite capable of deciding for ourselves. Since the Dutch colonial era, in the era of PERSAGI [Persatuan Ahli Gambar Indonesia/ Indonesian Picture-Makers' Association], we already know where we will be taking our Indonesian art.…”

“…22 Yuliman,'Seni Lukis Di Indonesia'. basics of Islam and Quranic Arabic and promising scholars travelled to the holy cities of Mecca and Medina to study and mix with believers from across the Muslim world, establishing links between the holy land and Southeast Asia. 23 In the late nineteenth century, Southeast Asian Muslims also visited Egypt, where the very influential modernist scholar Muhammad Abduh was writing and teaching about how to live as a Muslim in the contemporary world. His approach was to select the best from the West and from it learn how to strengthen Islam.…”

“…He said: in order to see painting one needs visual powers, so that one can respond emotionally to the shapes, lines and colours 'without needing to think too much about what the object is intended to be'. 23 Nashar said it more succinctly: 'With regards to Artistry, it's not a matter of what is being painted, but how'. 24 This artistic ideology is what became the resistance to the growth of 'realism' and, conversely, the basis for the endorsement of the various kinds of distortion that appeared in painting after PERSAGI.…”

“…The result is only then apparent After the process finally ends Like life itself. 23 23 Ahmad Sadali, 1986, quoted in Yustiono, 'Interpretasi Karya Ahmad Sadali', 77, my translation. In his poem Sadali describes life as a process, an ongoing cycle of interaction between knowledge and experience gained in the material world, and the sensations and feelings those experiences evoke, leading to a sense of the metaphysical world.…”

“…The two went their separate ways. 23 23 Zainol Sharif hints at the difficult, complicated circumstances in which these two forged their respective creative trajectories after TMR. He remarks that Sulaiman Esa's 'Islamic works came in the wake of the global reassertion of Islam.…”