So when I got an email reminder from Museum Macan that it was the last weekend for its contemporary art exhibition on March 9 and 10, I jumped at the chance. There’s nothing like art to reduce stress, stimulate one’s brain and revive flagging spirits!

There were exhibitions by Arahmaiani, one of Indonesia’s most respected, multitalented artists; Lee Mingwei, a renowned Taiwanese artist living in Paris and the United States, and On Kamara a Japanese conceptual artist whose “One Million Years” is about the passage of time, on “society’s use of dates to give materiality to the elusiveness of time”. “To give materiality to the elusiveness of time”? Wow! Don’t you just love that?

“The past is not past” was the title of Arahmaiani’s exhibition, which featured 70 of her works from the past 30 years (see ‘Getting to know Arahmaiani through her ‘wrath’ at Museum Macan’, The Jakarta Post, Feb. 4). The title stems from the fact that the works — on the environment, commodification of land, identity politics, feminism, etc. — that she did so many years ago are still so relevant to today’s world. Does that mean we’re stuck? Judging by the reactionary trends, events and leaders worldwide, the answer is a resounding yes!

Arahmaiani’s work is provocative. Take “Lingga-Yoni”, a painting that depicts stylized male and female genitalia, symbols of virility often found in Hindu and Buddhist temples, with Jawi (ancient Javanese script) in the background.

Islamic hard-liners read it as Arabic script and immediately screamed blasphemy! To escape being persecuted, Arahmaiani decided to leave Indonesia for a while.

“The Mending Project” and “The Letter Writing Project” were participatory installation works by Lee Mingwei, about human connectivity, relationships — between people and countries, politics and the climate — healing and chances, or fate, in life.

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