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Closure of National Gallery exhibition sparks censorship concerns
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The venue of a cancelled art exhibition of work by painter Yos Suprapto at the National Galley in Jakarta is seen empty on Dec. 20, 2024. The exhibition was canceled by the National Gallery on its opening day, Dec. 19, 2024. (Antara/Idlan Dziqri Mahmudi)
T
he abrupt closure of an art exhibition at Jakarta’s National Gallery exploring themes related to former president Joko “Jokowi” Widodo has sparked concerns about the direction of freedom of expression in the country.
The exhibition of the work of Yogyakarta-based artist Yos Suprapto, titled “Awakening: Land for Food Sovereignty”, went viral after it was unexpectedly canceled on its opening day on Thursday.
Yos said in a statement that the gallery had initially requested that he exclude five paintings “relating to a figure who was once widely popular among the Indonesian public” from the exhibition.
One of the five paintings depicted a farmer handfeeding rice to a man in business attire against a red shadow of a dog, and another depicted a naked man and woman having sex surrounded by rats in front of a building shaped like the Garuda Palace in Nusantara.
Yos initially rejected the gallery’s request, saying the paintings were key to the exhibition’s narrative. A few hours before the exhibition’s opening, Yos agreed to cover two of the five paintings with black fabric but insisted that he would rather pack up his paintings and go back to Yogyakarta if he were forced to take the other three paintings down.
The gallery ultimately canceled the exhibition without notification, locked the exhibition room and shut its lights off, even though visitors were already queuing outside, according to Yos.
The closure sparked public condemnation, with activists drawing parallels to New Order-era authoritarian censorship.
