Gone but not forgotten. Semsar Siahaan, who died of a heart attack in 2005 at 52 years of age while in Bali overseeing the construction of a studio-school he hoped would spawn a whole new generation of committed artist-activists, has left a powerful aesthetic and socio-political legacy, a part of which will go on display in Jakarta next week.

"Mengenang Semsar" (Remembering Semsar) is a commemorative exhibition not to be missed, predominantly because it constitutes a miniature history lesson about the period from the late 1970s into the dawning years of the new millennium.

Semsar, who was born on June 11, 1952, in Medan, North Sumatra, first became interested in art during his early school years in Belgrade, Yugoslavia, where his father, Maj. Gen. Ricardo Siahaan, was working as defense attach* at the Indonesian Embassy from 1965 to 1968.

Semsar graduated from high school in Jakarta in 1975, then enrolled and studied at the San Francisco Art Institute in the United States briefly, before returning to Indonesia where he began studying sculpture at the Bandung Institute of Technology's School of Art in 1977.

Semsar, who from the outset of his creative endeavors, always seemed to teeter on the outer, cutting edges of aesthetic and political issues, was expelled from the Bandung art school in 1981 for burning a work by one of his lecturer's that he considered representative of the restrictions being imposed upon students and society by the authoritarian systems prevailing not only in education but in almost all other sectors at that time.

His voice as an artist and advocate of human rights and justice sounded out loudly, strongly and stridently over the years as he consistently struggled to make art make a difference for the teeming urban poor, rural peasants and other disenfranchised elements of Indonesian society who had little power to make themselves heard.

"I adhere firmly to the belief that man is the creation of God and that art is the creation of man. And within conditions in which humanity is threatened, the artists must step forward to convey the values and principles of humanity and humanitarianism," he once said.

In 1994, during a demonstration -- later known at the "Gambir Incident" -- against the suppression of the freedom of the press and the human rights excesses of the Soeharto regime (1966-1998), Semsar, who had been supplying a steady stream of anti-government banners and posters to his fellow protesters, was attacked by security forces and his legs broken.

This incident, and ever increasing pressure from the Soeharto regime to curtail his activism, forced Semsar to take the opportunity to leave for Canada, where he continued to work as an artist, honing his social-realist style and intensifying his passion for reform toward justice and equity for all, for five years.

He returned to Jakarta in 2003, and due to the fruits of the reform movement that had gained momentum with the fall of Soeharto in 1998, was able to show his works that continued to speak of humanity, human issues and humanitarianism at the National Gallery in Gambir, Central Jakarta, without any fear of censorship, censure or closure by the authorities.

The upcoming commemorative exhibition of Semsar's works will feature pieces displayed in his 2004 exhibition, as well as a variety of earlier works from the various exhibitions he had held throughout the 1980s and 1990s.

Semsar was of the opinion that mankind's inhumanity to man could only be dealt with by making individuals aware of their own stances and choices in relation to authoritarian systems, human rights abuses, and the overall alienation imbuing contemporary society. He was convinced that artists had a social responsibility to instill this awareness in the public, and that art was about much more than just visual expression of aesthetic issues -- the painting of pretty pictures.

"Let's fight this together ... injustice, discrimination," Semsar said during his 2004 exhibition.

Now, four years later, Semsar's message is coming back to gallery walls to remind us all that the fight for justice and human rights is far from over as the issues of freedom of religion, freedom of speech, the right to livelihood, welfare and education continue to fill the headlines of the nation's print media, above articles brimming with news of religious and ethnic tensions escalating into violence, and with dire predictions of economic and environmental disaster.

"Mengenang Semsar"

Email: infor_cemara6@yahoo.com

Url: www.cemara6galeri.worldpress.com

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