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Jakarta Post

The politics of nudity

Text and large dots covering female nudes, some appearing like delicate batik-inspired decorations, but others revealing haunting images bedecked with blood-stained numbers, or large red dots as if in horrible apprehension

Carla Bianpoen (The Jakarta Post)
Jakarta
Thu, September 24, 2009

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The politics of nudity

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ext and large dots covering female nudes, some appearing like delicate batik-inspired decorations, but others revealing haunting images bedecked with blood-stained numbers, or large red dots as if in horrible apprehension.

Such are the images of the new works by Agus Suwage, one of the region's leading contemporary artists, exhibited in a solo show opening on Sept. 26 at the Singapore Tyler Print Institute.

Agus Suwage's new works come as a surprise to those who are used to his portraits of the self, appearing as a joke but always carrying undercurrents of critique, of a social, political and cultural nature.

The main feature of his STPI exhibition is a female figure covered with large dots, text and numbers. This is the first time Agus has chosen not to use his usual self to address social issues; it is also the first time that his critique has been so straightforward.

Although there is evidence of a distinct effort to soften it, Agus' revival of the Pinkswing model Izabel Jahja and text of the anti-pornography law written across the work make it very clear what it is all about.

Everyone will still remember the brouhaha surrounding Pinkswing, an installation depiction of the Garden of Eden that Agus made with his photographer friend Davy Linggar for the 2005 CP Biennale.

Featuring a nude man (Anjasmara, a popular local TV star) and woman (Izabel Jahja, a professional model) whose genitalia were covered by large white dots as a form of self-censorship, it stirred up the ire of the Islam Defenders Front (FPI), a hard-line religious group that considered the artwork blasphemy.

To prevent the installation from being destroyed by the FPI, CP built a special wall to protect it; nevertheless, Agus and his friends were summoned by the police anyway, and found themselves facing jail and uncertainty for a long period of time.

Widespread and furious discussions were also stirred up in opposition to the pornography law, which Indonesia's parliament passed anyway in October 2008.

The law prohibits pornographic acts and images, broadly defining pornography as "man-made sexual materials in the form of drawings, sketches, illustrations, photographs, text, voice, sound, moving pictures, animation, cartoons, poetry, conversations and gestures".

It also makes illegal public performances that could "incite sexual desire".

The law applies harsh penalties to those found in violation. Anyone caught "displaying nudity" in public could spend up to 10 years in prison and be fined the equivalent of up to US$500,000. Downloading pornography from the Internet could result in up to four years in prison.

The dots of Pinkswing along with the text and paragraph numbers from the pornography law appear in Agus' new works as overwhelmingly as the creation of the law for many members of the public, with the female figure - which many consider as the major target of the restrictions - appearing as a victim on which the circles around the numbers resemble burns on the flesh, suggesting the marks of violence.

In other works, dots fall as showers of rain of the female image, while again other works show the female body covered with red "decorations" over which a layer of text hangs as a metaphoric curtain.

"I don't want to get too heavy," says Agus, and, jokingly, he places his self-portrait on the place where a large dot previously covered Izabel's genitals.

But despite his effort to be "light" and "joking", one can't help the feeling his messages of apprehension.

While in residency at STPI, Agus Suwage made 50 prints, of which only 25 are in the exhibit because, he says, "My works are very large and cannot be exhibited all at once."

Working with the expert team at STPI enabled him to make works that he would not otherwise have been able to do, says Agus, who has also had residences in other parts of the world.

He said it was particularly gratifying to explore the appearance of watercolor in the prints at STPI, the one of a kind institute in Singapore that brings together an art gallery, a paper mill, a printmaking workshop and an excellent technical team.

Agus Suwage is the fourth Indonesian artist invited to a residency at STPI, after Srihadi Sudarsono, Sunaryo and Ay Tjoe Christine.

This is his 21st solo show since his first solo exhibition at Cemeti Contemporary Art Space (now Art House) in Yogyakarta in 1995.

Agus Suwage: New Works

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