BULAN TERBIT
Group Exhibition
Curated by WIldan F. Akbar
Grey Art Gallery - Bandung
15 March - 14 April 2024
From Cheng-Ho to Gus Dur
Mix media installation
Ceramic, fabric, wood, clothespin
2024
Dimension
Space area 200 x 200 cm2
Ceramic arrangement square 60 x 90 cm2
Fabric installation 110 x 80 x 250 cm3
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The work “From Cheng Ho to Gus Dur”, is a mix media installation artwork, represents a praying room and inside the room there is a sajadah (prayer mat) laying on the floor. Sajadah is a prayer mat for Moslems, and usually decorated with Islamic style pattern, but for this artwork, the sajadah patterned with a Chinese character 天 (Tiān), which means The Highest - Almighty, Sky, Heaven. This work reveals the pluralism of cultures, beliefs and religions, one of which is Islam Nusantara (Indonesia Islam) , Tionghoa Muslim (Moslem Chinese) and Chinese.
The great figure who was believed to have helped spread Islam in the Nusantara (Indonesia Archipelago) was Admiral Cheng Ho who brought the Chinese wave into Southeast Asia followed by the spread of Islam in a peaceful way. The Indonesian nation is a multi-ethnic, and the Tionghoa (Indonesian Chinese) is one of its ethnic group, but during the New Order regime, there were restrictions on Chinese ethnic traditions and culture. Since the fall of the New Order regime, a great national figure, Dr. (H.C.) K.H. Abdurrahman Wahid, better known as Gus Dur, has eliminated all forms of discrimination against the Tionghoa. Hence the work "From Cheng Ho to Gus Dur" is a metaphor for brotherhood and peace between ethnicities and religions. *Audiences are allow to step-in inside the square of white dash lines with the signed text ‘batas suci’ (holy border line), means they have to take off their footwear when step-in. This action represents the rule for Moslems to take-off their footwear when they go inside the mosque after they did the wudhu - cleanse the body parts with water. |
*Audiences are allow to step-in inside the square of white dash lines with the signed text ‘batas suci’ (holy border line), means they have to take off their footwear when step-in. This action represents the rule for Moslems to take-off their footwear when they go inside the mosque after they did the wudhu - cleanse the body parts with water.
** In front of the ‘sajadah’, there is an arrow sign pointing to ‘kiblat’ - Qibla ( قبلة) . It is the direction in which Muslims face when performing their prayers wherever they are in the world. This is the direction leading to the Ka‘ba in the Grand Mosque in Makkah in current day Saudi Arabia. *** This artwork is first time showing at a group exhibition BULAN TERBIT - Indonesian Islamic Contemporary Art Exhibition at Grey Art Gallery 
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