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Jakarta Post

Kartika: The non-Kartini 'Kartini'

Born on Nov. 27, 1934, she is the daughter and only child of the late Affandi (1907-1990), an expressionist painter and one of Indonesia’s most celebrated artists. 

Julia Suryakusuma (The Jakarta Post)
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Jakarta
Wed, April 18, 2018

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Kartika: The non-Kartini 'Kartini' A 62-minute documentary had been made of Kartika by Christopher Basile, an American filmmaker based in Australia. (Christopher Basile/File)

L

ong before he turned five, my son Aditya’s creative and artistic talents were already apparent. He loved drawing, painting and making imaginative figurines from plasticine. The only thing I could do with the modeling clay was to make simple round and long shapes, which I fashioned into a penis and balls. 

At that age, he thought it was pretty hilarious, but when he got bigger, he would get pretty embarrassed when I did these kinds of things — typical teenage reaction, I guess. 

So imagine having a mother who makes several giant-sized penises from clay, in different shapes and colors, erect as well as flaccid, the glans stylized in different ways — as a clenched fist, a dog, a fish and a cock’s head (no pun intended!), as well as droopy men’s faces — and exhibits them publicly.

Well, if your mother is Kartika, a painter and sculptor, and you were brought up surrounded by artistic family members who consider any kind of nudity beautiful, it’s all a normal part of life! 

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