Indonesian Street Art

First, a little bit of background, because you might be wondering why I’m writing about Indonesia. Not long after starting this column, I moved to Indonesia on an Australian Volunteers International (AVI) placement. I am here in Jakarta to work with Pekerti, a fair trade organization, redesigning and updating their website, while training some of their staff in web and graphic design. So yes, I am now your Indonesia correspondent.

Jogjakarta is reputedly the cultural capital of Indonesia and that certainly seems to hold true, limited though my knowledge and experience here is. Not only are there batik (traditional wax print cloth) sellers and stores everywhere, but many of the walls all across the city are covered in murals. Not surprising in the city of universities, artists and craft-makers. They're amazing too. Practically any style you can think of is there; cartoony, macabre, silhouettes, realistic, 2 & 3D graffiti… You get the idea.

Even some of the houses down by the river near the centre of town (certainly not affluent houses), have colourfully decorated roofs, walls and outward facing windows. The houses may not be perfect and look kind of improvised, but the art makes them more inviting.

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For a mostly Islamic country that's seen as being quite a conservative society, Indonesia's art is bright, flamboyant and public. Traditionally, Islamic art does not portray people (more info at en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Islamic_art and www.muslimheritage.com/features/default.cfm?ArticleID=204 ), but Indonesian street art shows all kinds of characters and situations. It's like an externalisation of the emotions that are otherwise discouraged to be overtly displayed in society. Naturally it's more complex than that, but that's how it appears to me, on the surface.

Looking more closely at the street art, many of the more prominent walls carry some kind of social, environmental or public health/wellfare message. The largest mural wall in Jogja, surrounding a huge compound is all messages of this kind. There's one portraying a kid kicking the crap out of a horde of mosquitoes, warning of the dangers of mosquito borne viruses. Others encourage people to exercise and play sport or are anti cosmetic surgery or encourage a clean lifestyle.

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In Jakarta, there are also many of these public message artworks. A long stretch of wall near the centre of town, on a major bus route, is covered in murals carrying a strong environmental about keeping Jakarta clean and green. Not only are walls utilised, but the large columns or pillars holding up overpasses are also adorned with traffic safety and anti-road rage murals.

These have all obviously been either publicly endorsed, commissioned or encouraged in some way. It's interesting to see that in Indonesia, graffiti and murals can be used for public service announcements, advice and positive messages. Quite different to it being shunned and or becoming an outlet for political and social activism, rebellion, fun, marketing or publicity.

I asked Isna, a local teacher, who told me that graffiti is not illegal here. People seem to take it as a given that walls everywhere are painted creatively. Why not? Apparently even the Sultan enjoys murals and paid a Japanese artist an exorbitant sum to paint a prominent wall in Jogja.

What I've found most interesting about the prevalence of street art here, is the mood and feeling it creates. Seeing colourful artwork adorning walls everywhere you go gives you something interesting to look at, makes you happy and inspires you if you're artistically inclined.

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I've long thought that a more lax policy or more channelled outputs for graffiti (like the tolerated zones in Melbourne) would be a good thing and Indonesia, for me, reaffirms that argument. When people are openly allowed and even encouraged to create artwork on blank walls in public view, the work changes, because more time can be spent on it and it's not done covertly or in the dark. It becomes more finished and refined, but can lack the rawness and immediacy that can make good graffiti.