Inspired by his father’s battle with cancer, Singaporean Imis Iskandar initiated Chairity — a collaborative platform for artists and designers to express their interpretations of cancer onto a piece of classical European furniture: the Louis Arm Chair.

Since it was initiated in 2012, Chairity has held chair auctions to raise money for cancer patients in Singapore and Malaysia.

Now, Imis is bringing Chairity to Jakarta, where 54 chairs bearing the creations of 51 artists from Indonesia, Singapore and China, will be auctioned at the Grand Mercure Hotel in Jakarta on Wednesday.

Among the participating locals are big names in the country’s art scene such as Heri Dono and Agus Suwage. There are also five non-professional artists who have contributed works, including National Police detective division chief Comr. Gen. Anang Iskandar and Nathania Berniece Zhong, the daughter of Jakarta Governor Basuki “Ahok” Tjahaja Purnama.

“We give them just the frames and it’s up to them how they want to express the interpretation of cancer onto the chair,” Imis told The Jakarta Post on Monday in Jakarta.

“We have people who burn the frame, people who paint the frame, do nothing with frame and just cover it with white cloth. So many interpretations.”

The proceeds from the chair sales will be donated to the Indonesian Childhood Cancer Foundation (YOAI) and Indonesian Cancer Foundation (YKI) to build accommodation for children with cancer from less-fortunate families.

“Why a chair? Because a chair is something very common. You find a chair everywhere. Everyone has a chair but we always take it for granted,” Imis said. “Cancer is in every one of us. It is active and inactive. Not until cancer hits you or your family members or someone close to you do you know what cancer is.”

The history of Chairity started in 2010 when Imis’ father, Abdul Rahman B. Jasman, was diagnosed with stage 3 lung cancer. After months of intensive treatment, his father was declared cancer-free in 2011. However, half a year later, the cancer returned, and this time it had spread into his brain and bones.

“It was diagnosed as stage 4, the last stage. So we knew that it looked like there was no hope,” he says.

Imis left his job to take care of his father, an experience that made him realize what cancer was and what battling the disease meant — how it affected him not only physically and emotionally, but also financially.

“We realized how expensive it [the treatment] was. I was just blessed because my dad could afford his own treatment. From there, I began to notice other patients, how they go for treatment and how they cannot afford treatment. How they are just waiting for time.”

Heri Dono

To honor his father and to help cancer patients from less-fortunate families, Imis and his friend Gary Ng started to plan the art and charity project that they called Chairity.

“By using chairs as art pieces, [the impact] is more long-lasting. If today I give the foundation S$10,000, tomorrow it will be finished. But the chair, you put it anywhere, 10 years down the road, people will still see the chair and still remember the project.”

With the help of local visual artist Justin Lee, they managed to gather over 20 artists for the project. Although having no background in art, Imis managed to gain support from individuals, companies and the government for the event, held in 2012.

The first Chairity, officiated by then Singapore President SR Nathan, managed to collect S$120,000 through the sale of 35 chairs. Imis gave 78 percent of that to the Singapore Cancer Society.

The event brought back emotional memories to Imis.

“What happened is my father called his own ambulance so he could be at the show. Halfway through my speech, he came in. It was the last week of his life,” Imis recalled. “So it became a very personal and emotional project for me.”

With help from the Singaporean President, Imis held a Chairity project in Kuala Lumpur in 2014, involving renowned Malaysian artists. The collected funds went to the National Cancer Society Malaysia.

Imis involved children in the third event at Red Dot Design Museum Singapore in April 2015. Children, including some from the Children Cancer Foundation in Singapore, got the chance to paint and design small chairs. The project generated S$70,000 for the Children Cancer Foundation.

“After three times doing it in Singapore and Malaysia. I thought I should be doing it in Indonesia because my mom is Indonesian.”

Imis and his relatives in Indonesia formed Yayasan Kursi Putih or the White Chairs Foundation (Kupu) as the Indonesian chapter of Chairity.

With help from Christie’s auction house, Imis got in touch with prominent artists across Indonesia. For months, Imis, who works as the regional sales manager of a German company, went back and forth between Singapore and Indonesia to approach the artists.  

“I went around Indonesia from Bandung, Semarang, Subang, Yogyakarta, Bali and Surabaya to meet the artists. I was so blessed to be introduced to good artists.”

Aside from Agus Suwage and Heri Dono, other participating artists include Obin, Ipong Purnama Sidhi, Affandi, Astari Rasyid and Asri Nugroho.

The event also features chairs designed by three Singaporean artists — Abu Jalal Sarimon, Rosihan Dahim and Jeffrey Wandly, as well as Chinese artist Kuku Chai.

The minimum price of each chair is set at Rp 50 million. However, Imis said the sale of the chairs would be conducted in casual manner.

“Only five chairs are selected by Christie’s. For other chairs, people can choose how much they want to pay,” he said. “It is not really auction. It just sells the piece but they have an option to make it higher.”  

Agus Suwage

Just like in the previous Chairity events, the one in Jakarta will have a dedication page to Imis’ father. The Jakarta event was supported by Singapore International Foundation (SIF).

“The SIF, whose mission is to bring world communities together to do good, believes the arts are a way for us to bring people together to engage in cross-cultural interaction that strengthens understanding,” said SIF communications manager, Tay Hsu Chern, said.

“This year, we launched the ‘arts for good’ initiative, which continues to build on this belief while focusing on arts and culture as an enabler to connect Singaporeans like Imis and Indonesian artists together to promote awareness of social issues like cancer and collaborate for positive social change.”

— Photos courtesy of Singapore International Foundation