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Preserving Indonesia’s LGBT contribution to the country's creative industry
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Not as bleak: Mainstream media was filled with LGBT representatives, as opposed to the current situation. (Queer Indonesia Archive/Courtesy of PT Parkit Film) (Queer Indonesia Archive/Courtesy of PT Parkit Film)
H
istorically, the LBGT community has actively contributed to Indonesia’s creative industry. But its involvement has been practically diminished, and those still on the scene have to be satisfied with a meager spotlight.
Several creative aspects of Indonesian culture have undeniably tight bonds with the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community, from the cross-dressing Javanese dancers of lengger lanang to IPOOS GAYa Betawi zines which focused on LGBT topics. However, fewer and fewer pieces of evidence of LGBT influences on the country's culture are being preserved.
Queer Indonesia Archive (QIA) a nonprofit volunteer-based organization, is building a digital archive to collect, preserve and celebrate the materials reflecting the lives and experiences of LGBT Indonesia to prevent these pieces of evidence from disappearing into the annals of time.
"The QIA was formed in December 2019, two months before the sudden onset of the pandemic, so all work and material collection processes has been online-based," said Sidhi Vhisatya, a researcher and curator based in Ubud, Bali, who volunteers for the QIA.
The QIA archives several layers of the LGBT community's life experience. The first layer covers physical materials such as zines, photos, stickers, T-shirts and newspaper clippings. The second layer completes the experience as the volunteers collect stories in the form of audio or visual recordings.
These bits of evidence are published on their website (qiarchive.org) after a careful set of procedures of verification and classification.
Sense of belonging
