Mella Jaarsma
Mella Jaarsma yang lahir di Belanda, telah tinggal di Indonesia sejak tahun 1984. Ia dikenal sebagai a driving force dalam duni seni rupa di Indonesia. Ia mendirikan Galeri Cemeti bersama suaminya Nindityo Adipurnomo (1988) agar teman teman perupa dapat memamerkan karya mereka yang alternative/experimental/kontemporer disaat galeri lainnya menutup pintu untuk karya mereka.. Cemeti menjadi kunci untuk bermulanya dan berkembangnya seni rupa alternative/eksperimental/kontemporer di Yogyakarta. Artis tersohor seperti Heri Dono dan Eddie Hara bermula dari Galeri Cemeti. Mella bersama suaminya juga merupakan pusat dimana peminat dari luar negeri mendapatkan informasi yang akurat mengenai perupa Indonesia. Pada tahun 2006 mereka terima penghargaan berupa the John D. Rockefeller 3rd Prize for Professional Achievement untuk komitmen mengembangkan perupa Indonesia.
Selain mengelola galeri yang berkembang dari waktu ke waktu, Mella juga aktif berpartisipasi dalam kreatifitas seni rupa. Karyanya yang berkisar pada isu sosial, politik, kolonialisme, kesetaraan. Ia pernah mengungkapkan bahwa sebagai orang Belanda yang sudah lama tinggal di Indonesia, ia ikut merasakan ketegangan antar suku, agama, dan ras menjelang dan setelah reformasi. Namun ia tertarik pada struktur social era kolonial dan pasca kolonial di Indonesia. Sehingga posisinya sebagai pendatang yang tinggal lama di Indonesia, menjadi insider dan outsider sekaliguas. Untuk beberapa konsep kekaryaannya hal itu menjadi konsep dasar..–Salah satu karya seperti itu adalah, Hi Inlander, dimana Inlander merupakan sebutan kolonial yang merendahkan, tapi Mella memakainya secara sinis.
Dari sekian cara dan material yang dipakai Mella untuk karyanya yang ratusan itu, adalah metafora karya-karyanya yang khas dengan seni penutup tubuh bermaterial tak biasa, seperti kodok, yang merupakan makanan enak bagi orang Cina, tapi haram untuk yang beragama Islam. Jilbab mejadi metafora yang menandakan penutup diri atau tempat persembunyian, semacam masker yang menutupi jatidiri yang sebenarnya atau yang menambah rasa aman bagi pemakainya. Hal2 seperti ini adalah cara Mella menkritisi situasi tertentu.
Setelah bertahun-tahun melawan ketidak adilan dan mengkritisi pengertian dan istilah tertentu, Mella kini lebih berfokus pada isu kebutuhan manusia dan lingkungan. Pada tahun 2020, dimana Covid merajarela, Mella membuat instalasi berjudul Feeding the Nation, yang ia maksudkan untuk memikirkan kembali kebutuhan manusia yang basic.
Karya In Ravel Out tampak seperti perempuan berbusana elite, namun Mella mengatakan bahwa sesungguhnya karya ini adalah mengenai regenerasi, pembaharuan, mengenai proses change yang sedang belangsung terkait pola-pola sosial dan cultural. Kalau tasnya tampak seperti plastic, maka itu sesungguhnya terbuat dari ubi yang larut dalam air.didalam tas ada Koran Tempo yang usang, Untuk Jogja korannya kini hanya terbit online.
Pada pameran Indonesia di Europalia tahun 2017 Mella ikut berpartisipasi dengan karya I Owe You . mella meneliti tentang bahan kulit pohon, bahan untuk buat penutup badan dan baju ribuna tahun di Indonesia, yang sebenarnya mengeluhkan dampak dari kekuatan politik terkait penggunaan ‘bark’ kulit pohon untuk pakaian pada jaman colonial. orang zending bertugas untuk berhentikan orang Sulawesi memakai baju kulit pohon, karena berkait dengan animism setempat, adalah kepercayaan suku-suku di berberapa pulau di Indonesia .
Mella Jaarsma lulusan Minerva Fine Art Academy di Groningen, negeri Belanda. Awalnya ia memilih textile untuk bidang study utama, namun ia pindah ke bagian seni eksperimental dan monumental. Pada waktu dia masih kuliah seni di Belanda, Ia datang ke Indonesia menemani ayahnya yang waktu itu bertugas untuk suatu proyek di Indonesia. Ketertarikan dengan kebudayaan Mella kembali untuk masuk IKJ, lalu ia pindah ke ISI Yogya. Matahari yang membuat bayangan dirinya dan bagaimana bayangan adalah aspek penting dalam kebudayaan dan kepercayaan memberi pesona khusus pada Mella. Begitupun ia terpesona pada bayang bayang yang terjadi oleh sorotan lampu templek di warung. Ia memang telah mempelajari segala seluk beluk mengenai wayang sebelumnya.
Maka shadow menjadi metafora tubuh manusia dalam karya karya awalnya.Patut diperhatikan bagaimana karyakaryanya kini tampak tidak berubah dari kesadaran hidup ditengah masyarakat, sedangkan cara mengungkapkan keberadaannya mengikuti zaman yang berubah-ubah.
/CB
Karya
A Taste of Behind
2018
Two costumes, variable dimension
Handstitched costumes of barkcloth, acrylic paint, fabric, bamboo, archival print
Histories of fashion change periodicity. Fashion speaks to and from its time and reflects both trends and personal preferences. It also reflects personal memory and experience—a piece of clothing can typify a certain period of one’s life. I use clothing in my work to question one’s behavior and social conditioning. I believe fashion springs from boredom; boredom with the natural shape of the body. Since the beginning of mankind, humans have made clothing to attract and to “create” new bodies. By regularly altering what we wear, we maintain interest and curiosity between ourselves and others. The body can be seen as a raw material for new creations and finding beauty. “It is certainly not true that there is in the mind of man any universal standard of beauty with respect to the human body. It is possible that certain tastes may in the course of time become inherited. We need variety, beyond existing standards.” - Charles Darwin. We do not create an image of ourselves that is permanent. We always aim to improve ourselves and we have the uncontrollable impulse to rearrange, to restyle. Taste is ephemeral. My work ‘A Taste of Behind’ relates to the changing notion or standard of when and if particular parts of the body are appropriate to be seen or on display and when they are not. I created barkcloth coverings with two holes, one for an armpit and one showing off the butt. Bark clothing has been worn in Indonesia for thousands of years and during the colonial era, mostly covered the genitals. Subjects of the colonies were eventually forced to alter the design of their bark clothing however to cover their bodies more fully and eventually were forced to wear cloth fibers. In ‘A Taste of Behind’ I seek to start a new trend by displaying a part of the human body that is still typically covered: the butt.
Blinkers and Mindset
2017
2 mins 18 sec
Leather, fur, stainless steel, fabric, silkscreen I Singel channel video
Indonesia is probably the country with the most extreme spectrum of sartorial coverings or clothing in the world. In the western-most province of Indonesia-- Banda Aceh, bodies must be almost totally coveredaccording to the Sharia law. In the eastern-most province of Papua, people are still usinglittlecoverings as many tribal people are wearing penis sheaths or grass skirts. I look at those extremes in clothing as possessing uniqueness and cultural value, which are in decline. During the last twenty years I have been examining habits of clothing relating to social issues. Our clothes are like a facade in which we can hide or appear, inhabit or vacate. I am also interested in the human compulsion of “showing oneself” and ways in which humans look at each other, as well as the question “where do we position ourselves?” I am interested in the politics of clothing. During the last century people world-wide have used clothing as a state of control and have pushed others to change their clothing habits with the aim that clothing is part of a policy to bring a change in mentality; to “civilize” or impose modesty, to adopt a religion, to restrict, but also to free, revolt, etc.
Hi Inlander - Hallo Native
1998 - 1999
Frog’s legs, chicken feet, kangaroo leather, fish skin, photographs, 3 kitchen tables, spices
In Ravel Out
2018
Leather, stainless steel, newspapers, soluble plastic made of cassava
For ‘In Ravel Out’ I work with the idea of the ephemeralor finite life of an object. Impermanence is an important part of change--it is transitory--made one day and gone the other day. It is about regeneration, renewal, and continuation. It is about a process of ongoing change regarding social and cultural patterns and trying to unravel these patterns’ meanings. The composition of the bags here appears to be plastic but is actually processed cassava,which is disolvable in water.Inside of the bags are outdated copies of the Indonesian newspaper Tempo which is not published in hardcopy anymore and can only be accessed online. These papers allude to the transitory nature of current events, human memory, and the passage of time. Our effort to understand these things creates a sense of unraveling. avanieco.com cassava bags, Bali
Rakus
2018
Metal, leather, fabric, barkcloth, acrylic paint
In 2017 I made a number of costume works featuring long tongues. In this particular installation, ‘Rakus’ (rakus meaning greedy), the tongues are my comment on the status quo. Sticking out one’s tongue represents a feeling of civic frustration at being trapped in the current state of socio-political affairs. ‘Rakus’ is about greed, corruption, the political manoeuvres of those in power and their continual repetition throughout history. I looked to the image of Rangda, the Balinese widow queen of the demon. Rangda is a witch-like figure with a long, protruding tongue. She is the personification of evil and in her fight against good, represents the eternal battle between good and evil, yet nevertheless is still considered a protective force.
Square Body – Kanda Empat
2009
Three dresses, light installation, video, audio ‘Quartet for square body’ by Tony Maryana
The landscaper
3 mins 40 sec
Wood, paint, iron, leather, video wooden panels carved by Pengho and painted by Anex at Jatiwangi
In 2013, I undertook a three week residency at Jatiwangi Art Factory inJatiwangi, a village in West Java. I drove along Deandels ‘Grote Postweg’ or ‘Great Post road’on a daily basis. This road connects Bandung with Cirebon. Locals call it “the blood road”, refering to the high death toll of exploited laborers that were forced to work on this 1000 km long road by the colonializers in 1808. Aside being laid for transport and trade, the road served military purposes, including the “fast” mobilization of troops that were to defend the north coast from the English entering Java. The cruelty that happened here is in stark contrast with the beautiful landscapes surrounding the area. I copied the landscapes that are painted on becaks [peddle bycicles] operating on this ‘Grote Postweg’ onto wooden panels (22x17 cm each) in collaboration with Penho and Anex, local artist inhabitants of Jatiwangi village. These 34 wooden panels I made into a skirt. The skirt is worn by a Sufi dancer who dances and spins until he collapses.
The Size of Rice
2021
Four channel video, various durations Installation: wood, cotton, leather, rice plants, barkcloth, buffalo horn
In dialogue with Vipash Purichanont I developed the ‘The Size of Rice’, which explores specific measurements of objects, such as a grain of rice as well as the magnitude of objects in relation to our bodies.Measurements have a crucial role in our lives and are fundamental to one’s mindset, instinct and intelligence. How we perceive and frame the world around us is directly linked to measurings and proportions relative to the human body. I invited four performers from diverse ethnic and cultural backgrounds in Indonesia to collaborate with me on 'The Size of Rice'. I created an object/costume for each performer related to the body measurements each one selected based on their understanding of preferred correlations, namely length, weight, time and distance (inter-space). Once the objects/costumes took shape, I handed them over to the performers to immediately interact with them and create a spontaneous performance, reflecting on our discussions on measurements and cultural significance. Dancers: Abdi Karya, Siska Aprisia, Pebri Irawan, Ari Dwianto. Wood constructions: Octo Cornelius. Video: Anita Reza Zein.
Wearing the Horizontal I
2020
Three costumes, variable dimensions
handstitched costumes of barkcloth from the mulberry tree (created by Mufid), fabric, metal
Wearing the Horizontal II
2020
Triptych, 90 x 78,2 cm each
handstitched costumes of barkcloth from the mulberry tree (created by Mufid), fabric, metal. archival print on Hahnemuhle photo rag satin
With the outset of the COVID-19 pandemic, I started to make drawings and paintings on how we all carry the notion of mortality within us. I was inspired by objects of an ephemeral or finite nature, like the ‘Lamak’ - beautiful woven and stitched panels, made from palm leaves that hang in front of shrines in Bali, which fade after only one day. The existence of fragile works remains in their concepts, stories, contexts and imaginations. Confronted with our own fragile existence, we are forced to contemplate our core values that forge our notion of life in relation to death, time (present, past, future) and nature. I interpreted these ideas in creating horizontal dresses. This work ‘Wearing the Horizontal’ depicts a dress that is virtually impossible to put it on, as it is horizontal and not wearable yet. Through the horizontal dress we get a glimpse of what lies ahead of us.