Rizka Putri Maulani

1206620069

Dyan Anggraini and Her Mother’s Wrath

Against the backdrop of gender inequality, which is still a very sensitive issue
in Indonesia, the exhibition “IWA #3: Infusions Into Contemporary Art” is
another gateway that opens up unlimited space for Indonesian female artists to
work while providing opportunities for them to voice out about social issues, or
their personal opinion through their work. The exhibition, which was so well-
organized and very comfortable to enjoy, is filled with various work by 10
Indonesian female artists whose contributions to art both nationally and
internationally cannot be doubted again.
In this exhibition, we can see how each individual interprets their world amid
various opinions and principles, about how some things are attempted by a
woman or even about the woman herself. Among all the works exhibited at the
exhibition, there is one work that steals the attention. At first glance, the
traditional nuance is immediately apparent from the depiction of a woman
wearing traditional Indonesian clothes, namely the kebaya, and also the figure
beside her who wears a traditional Javanese and Balinese mask. In contrast to
the colored figure holding two sunflowers, the dark figure beside her holds a
traditional weapon and traditional Indonesian mask. But if you look closely,
even though the painting entitled "Perempuan-Ibu" by Dyan Anggraini is thick
with traditional nuances, there is something different that is directly embedded
in the symbol of women at the present time.
With soft lines that build organic shapes, this painting is dominated by colors
that are not at all flashy and bright, even some objects are only shaded using a
pencil. The background is filled with many cursive writings that cannot be read
properly, so that only the artist herself which able to read and know the words.
This painting, gives a shady and soft impression through fine pencil shading
and also brush strokes with oil paint, keeps a mystery that seems to 'talk' to the
art lover. The art itself as if told the viewer about how the figure of a woman in
a mask was coupled with a dark figure that seems to depict anger, something
that is contrary to the image of tenderness possessed by a colored woman. If we
look at Dyan Anggraini's other works, for example, Di Tanganmu and Titian, it
can be seen how a traditional mask that hides a woman's face is a characteristic

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which, if we examine further, must have an important meaning and contain a
message from all of Dyan Anggraini's work.
"She lives in two worlds," said Landung Simatupang, one of Dyan Anggraini's
relatives who applauds Dyan Anggraini's dedication to contribute to voicing
women's and social issues through her work as a painter in her 'art' world and
also as a bureaucrat in her other's world. Dyan Anggraini is a special ace in
Indonesian art. Apart from being an active artist in the life of art, she initiated
an expression space for children in the "Art for Children" activity forum and
initiated the publication of the Cultural Arts media "MataJendela" which is still
ongoing, at the same time she is also an employee to the country in the period
1989-2011. Under her leadership until 2011, Taman Budaya was responsible
for the development of arts and culture in the Special Region of Yogyakarta and
developed into a progressive institution that is ready to face the changing
dynamics of the art world.
In her position as Head of Taman Budaya, Dyan facilitates ArtJog, bringing
artists closer to Taman Budaya as their own home. When she was nearing her
retirement, and still serving as the Head of the Taman Budaya Yogyakarta,
Dyan released the Biennale Jogja from the routine program of the TBY which
had been running since 1988 and handed it over to the Yogyakarta Biennale
Foundation, which was formed in 2010 as the organizer of the Jogja Biennale.
The Yogyakarta Special Region Government awarded the 2019 Cultural Award
in the category of artist and conservationists. Along with the advancement of
Taman Budaya under her leadership, Dyan Anggraini still had time to work as
an artist and held a solo exhibition 9 times.
Life as a bureaucrat also affected her art. The traditional masks, which are the
characteristics that are never absent from her paintings, actually symbolize her
figure as a bureaucrat who cannot give verbal criticism, even though the values
she adheres to are the truth. Advancing the institution of TBY to a level that it
became daring and ignoring eventual repercussions, she openly portrayed
political players as clowns in one of her art under the title Waiting For Clowns.
But in a later stage she was compelled to tone down, and her frustrations are
revealed in her series of Koor Bungkam, featuring herself with masks covering
her mouth. Therefore, through her painting entitled "Perempuan-Ibu" Dyan
asks her art connoisseurs what will happen if the symbol of tenderness and
wisdom that has been carried by a 'mother' will disappear when the figure is
ber-tiwikrama (lost patience with herself in the language of Java)? Her patience
is lost because its true values are violated, and the fact that it is very difficult to
recognize the role of a woman just because it is considered a purely natural
role.

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Besides being famous for adopting a paternalistic understanding where many
Indonesian people feel 'comfortable' with a fatherly leadership style, since
prehistoric times, various ethnic groups in the archipelago have respected the
spirit of nature and the power of the earth, they liken it to the 'mother' who
gives life, like a goddess. Nature and the environment. Even the mother's own
words have become the national personification of the form of the homeland,
namely Ibu Pertiwi. Judging from this background, it can be seen that the
Indonesian people have a special respect for the figure of 'Mother' that they
revere. Therefore, the depiction of Dyan Anggraini through his paintings seems
to be protesting against a truth value that has been violated, when a mother who
has a high and respected position has lost her patience and is angry. It's an
interesting and unique depiction of voicing women's rights through this 'Mother'
figure.
In his 2014 book, Art Beyond Itself: Anthropology for a Society Without a Story
Line, Mexican sociologist Néstor García Canclini suggests another way of
splitting the impasse between interpretations that tend towards taking art’s
autonomy as basic, and those that see art as of value only when occurs as an
effective cultural, social, or political intervention, as effective in measurably
similar ways. He proposes instead that we accept that “art is the place of
immanence—the place where we catch sight of things that are just at the
point of occurring”. This is to make contemporaneity itself the main quality,
and subject, of contemporary art. It is to elevate a quality that much art
throughout time has had into one that is specific to the present situation.
In line with what Canclini said about the quality of contemporary art that is also
judged by its factual elements, Dyan Anggraini has succeeded in visually
combining traditional elements and values with the issue of feminism, which is
still a hot topic, because rights are still being fought for up till now. Traditional
elements have been successfully combined with current issues so that the
artwork does not lose its contemporary elements at all.
García Canclini tends in this direction when he elaborates: “Art gains its
attraction in part from the fact that it proclaims something that could
happen, promising meaning or modifying meaning through insinuations. It
makes no unbreakable commitment to hard facts. It leaves what it says
hanging” We are long past the time when artists argued about what they should
do to change life, or at least to represent its transitions by talking about what
“the system” was concealing. They can hardly even act, like victims of a
catastrophe who try to organize themselves, in the immanence of what might
happen next, or in the barely explicable ruins of what globalization has
destroyed. Art now works in the footsteps of the ungovernable.

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Just like the question that Dyan Anggraini herself asked in her description of
her work, namely "What if a woman loses her patience over something that is
considered to violate the value of truth?" neither the question nor the artwork
provide a definite answer. So if the figure beside the “Perempuan-Ibu” is angry,
then what happens next? Everything is packaged by making her paintings as a
tool of non-verbal protest and sharp insinuation about women's rights as well as
the role of women which is still not recognized fairly until now. Through the
characters depicted using masks, it can be clearly seen and proven (plus the
artist's own explanation) that her artwork is a tool to voice protests that she
cannot do in real life openly.
After exploring the soft and mysterious style created by Dyan Anggraini's
magical hands, it seems that art connoisseurs can conclude that the art created
by Dyan is an art that speaks. Art that not only showcases the graceful figure of
a woman in the view of the great archipelago, but also the authority that must
be recognized for its role in life. Dyan Anggraini describes everything so
beautifully and amazingly, although it is still an unanswered question why does
the figure of Mother have to hold so many weapons in her hands? Is that the
form of anger that a "mother" should do? Art is indeed sometimes wild and
unrestrained, but personally, the writer really regrets why the symbol of anger
must be equipped with "weapons" which are literally used to injure or fight
someone with violence.
However, overall it should be acknowledged that Dyan Anggraini's work
entitled 'Perempuan-Ibu' was created by bringing the artist's unique style into
account. Questions from the description combined with the visualization of the
painting bring art connoisseurs to dive deeper into the world in the eyes of a
Dyan Anggraini, or even the ‘Mother’ figure herself.

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 Glosarium

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dyah-anggraini-penanda-reputasi-yogyakarta-sebagai-kota-seni
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miliki-ciri-khas-dan-filosofi-tersendiri-kln.html
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Art_Beyond_Itself_Anthropology_for_a_Society_without_a_Story_Line
file:///C:/Users/Nicolet/Downloads/Catalog_IWA%233_Final_March_2022.pdf

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