Arthub Favorite of the Week!
Happy New Year! Some of our followers had an opportunity to return home for the holidays, but now as we settle in to 2016 we begin to feel nostalgic – feelings of displacement take root as we commute across town, across the country, across the world, back into our daily lives.
With the beginning of the new year Arthub will post a weekly “favorite”, highlighting an artist, gallery, institution, project, blog or movement, that has enlightened and inspired us in some way. As we say goodbye to twenty-fifteen we ponder elements of home, migration and transoceanic movement. In that vein, our first Arthub Favorite is the Pulang Project initiated by Mella Jaarsma.
Pulang means to go home, or to arrive home with an emphasis on returning to the place one calls home.
Project Concept
Pulang consists of four backpacks in colors black, white, red and yellow. The work began on April 15, 2015 in Yogyakarta, Indonesia at ‘Point Zero’, a cross road known as 0.0 – 25 kilometers. To the north of Point Zero is the Merapi Volcano and 25 kilometers to the south of is the Indian Ocean.
The work relies on the engagement and activation of willing participants. The first four participants gathered at Point Zero and were given one of the four backpacks each to wear. The colors of the backpacks correspond to ancient symbolism of the Balinese Hindu compass. Each participant faces the direction the color of their backpack represents before setting off to their respective homes.
These colors signify the four cardinal directions of the universe, the deities they represent and where in the land, sea and sky these Gods reside.
Black represents North or Kaja – toward the mountain where the God Wishnu lives
White represents East or Kangin – where the sun rises and the God Iswara lives
Red represents the South or Kelod– towards the sea, where the God Brahma lives
Yellow represents West or Kauh – where the sun sets and the God Mahadewa lives
The central position is Siwa and is represented by all colours
Inscribed on the backpacks are instructions to open the backpack, put on the costume that unfolds from the pack and then photograph themselves in front of their home. After posting this photograph on the Pulang website, recipients are asked to pass the backpack on to a person they can trust to take care of it, and to continue the ritual to keep the pack traveling. In this way, the work relies on the participation of individuals unknown to the artist and what emerges is a web of relations and migrations home that are mapped on the project website.
Our individual sense of orientation is fluid; directions are relative, not absolute. A direction can transcend physical space and become an ephemeral, cultural, religious and social space as well. Where do we anchor ourselves? Is it north on a map, our proximity to the sea or our ability to see a mountain in the distance?
Where do we belong and where do these backpacks belong? The backpacks will travel without a particular purpose, other than to accompany numerous recipients on their journey home. These journeys will generate a web of images and inform a newly imagined way of mapping and ask us to consider the subjectivity of orientation and our sense of direction.
As of Sunday, January 3, 2016 the yellow backpack was in Lampung, Sumatra! The black backpack was in Lombok! The red backpack was circling in and around Yogyakarta! While the white one was in New South Wales, Australia! Check out the map here to find out more about the backpacks’ locations and see pictures of those lucky few who have had an opportunity to take them home.
The project’s Tumblr page includes articles, essays and poetry by various Pulang Project participants.
About Artist
Mella Jaarsma was born in the Netherlands in 1960. She studied visual art at ‘Minerva’ Academy, Groningen, after which she left the Netherlands to study at the IKJ (Art Institute of Jakarta, 1984), Jakarta and at ISI (Indonesia Institute of the Arts), Yogyakarta. She has lived in Indonesia ever since.
In 1988, together with her partner Nindityo Adipurnomo she founded the Cemeti Gallery in Yogyakarta , which since 1999 has changed into Cemeti Art House, organizing exhibitions, projects and residencies.
Her work has been presented widely in exhibitions in Indonesia as well as in international art events like; Soul Ties – Singapore Art Museum – Singapore, Third Asia Pacific Triennale – Queensland Art Gallery – Brisbane, I eat you eat me – Center of Academic Resources, Chulalongkorn University – Bangkok, ARS01 – KIASMA – Helsinki, EV+A 2002 – Limerick City Art Gallery – Limerick, Gwangju Biennale – Gwangju, Site & Sight, Sculpture Square – Singapore, Open2002 – 5th International exhibition of Sculptures and Installations – Lido – Venice, Yokohama Triennale, Accidentally Fashion – Museum of Contemporary Art – Taipei, RE-Addressing Identities – Katonah Museum, New York, etc. Her work is in mayor public collections Queensland Art Gallery, Brisbane, Australia, the Singapore Art Museum, etc.
Find out more about Mella here.