Jakarta, Indonesia, September 1, 2022 — While human rights abuse survivors continue to wait, decades later, for recognition and justice, young people are taking matters into their own hands. Armed with pens and mobile phones, they reach out across generations to listen to the life stories experienced by the survivors.
AJAR (Asia Justice and Rights) engaged more than 70 young people from Yogyakarta, East Nusa Tenggara, Central Sulawesi, and South Sulawesi to absorb and document Indonesia’s dark history through the stories of about 100 survivors from their communities. Over the course of a year, this program operated in four areas previously affected by violent conflicts and human rights abuses, where AJAR encountered young people with different characteristics and roots of conflict. In Yogyakarta, they met second and third-generation young people affected by the humanitarian tragedy that claimed the lives of one million victims in 1965. In eastern Indonesia, they met friends who were victims of child abductions and forced relocations from conflict zones in Timor-Timur (now Timor-Leste). Finally, their journey brought them to meet young people exposed to violent communal conflict in Poso.
The exhibition showcases artworks created by young people as their response to the lives of the survivors before, during, and after the human rights abuses occurred. Ika Vantiani, an artist who collaborated with young people in Yogyakarta, Makassar, and Poso, presents a collage titled “Seeing Collage at Work: New Visuals of Past Trauma,” which demonstrates how collages can serve as a medium to record and retell cases of human rights abuses in Indonesia. In some instances, it becomes a tool for cross-generational learning from survivors to the young participants of this program. Artist Ika Vantiani elaborates that “art can be used to speak about human rights, and collages can be a medium to share the stories of victims and the younger generation. Through this, we can all become human rights defenders because human rights belong to everyone.”
The exhibition also features various works by other artists, such as Muhammad Rais from Makassar with his piece titled “Reflection,” using mixed media and interactive installations to distort space and the survivors’ voices. There are also audiovisual works on the Rohingya refugee issue by @Humanityouth, woven art, and photos about land and forest confiscation based on participatory action research by ten young female artists from Papua in collaboration with the Papuan Women’s Working Group (PWG).
The exhibition takes place from August 26 to 28, 2022, at Network+, a creative space located in Central Jakarta. The opening on August 26, 2022, includes speeches by artist Ika Vantiani and Galuh Wandita, the Director of AJAR, and concludes with a performance by Jinan Laetitia, an eccentric pop musician from Bogor. Presenting her debut album, Jinan Laetitia will take the audience on a journey of self-discovery.
On August 27-28, AJAR screened the film “Lagu untuk Anakku” (Song for My Children) and invite Dialita (Di Atas Lima Puluh Tahun), a music group consisting of mothers who are survivors of the 1965 tragedy. AJAR also invites civil society friends for a series of discussions and the launch of the report “Pathways to Transitional Justice in Indonesia: Victims’ Agency in the Face of Impunity” — a research conducted in collaboration with Impunity Watch. More information about the events on August 27-28, 2022, can be accessed on Instagram @humanityouth and @asiajusticerights.
For further information, please contact: Raisa Widiastari
Asia Justice and Rights
Phone and WhatsApp: +62857-1050-8836
Email: rwidiastari@asia-ajar.org