Visiting Bumi Tarung Last Exhibition

‘A man may be clever as the sky, but as long as he does not write, he will be lost in society and from history. Writing is working for eternity.’

-Pramoedya Ananta Toer

Aside from Sapardi Djoko Damono, one of the male writers that I really admire is Pramoedya Ananta Toer. Pram's (his nickname) role in the world of Indonesian literacy is certainly not small. He was the one who was feared by the state officials during the dark times. Around the 65s when Indonesia was turbulent, Pram's name was like a ghost that made state officials shudder. Do you know what's wrong? They were afraid of Pram because of his works.

However, this time I will not focus on Pram but on the latest exhibition of Sanggar Bumi Tarung. What does it have to do with Pram? Of course there is.

<center>SAMPAI BATAS TARUNG</center>

---

---

Besides having a hobby of drawing (well, small drawing), I am also very interested in paintings, as well as painting exhibitions in galleries. Coincidentally, some time ago, I had time to visit an exhibition at a national gallery.

The exhibition was organised by Sanggar Bumi Tarung, which is a group of artists who were active during the ‘65 era and were cleared out during the New Order because they were considered a pro-communist community. The founders of the group were originally thirteen people, however, due to the ‘clean neighbourhood’ efforts promoted by the new order, several people were arrested and imprisoned without trial, several others disappeared without a trace until now, and there are only a handful of people left who still support Sanggar Bumi Tarung until the end of its exhibition.

---

---

Misbach Munir was very fond of Pramoedya. There was a painting entitled Pramoedya that he displayed at the exhibition. So, you know why this group was accused of being ‘left-wing’, because their reference point was always Pramoedya.

---

---

In addition to exhibiting works by members of Bumi Tarung, the exhibition also collaborated with young artists with equally beautiful concepts. Initially, the young artists were not confident if they had to compete with the excellent works of the seniors, but because they were convinced by the curator, Yaksa Agus, the exhibition was finally held and welcomed enthusiastically by art lovers, both literacy and fine arts.

---

---

An exhibition that was also a goodbye message. I don't know why, but I was very touched while walking around and looking at the exhibition in this gallery. Some of the life stories of the Sanggar members during their time in hiding from the New Order's aides were written there.

---

---

From here, I learnt how powerful and sharp a pen and words can be. I once heard an idiom about the pen being sharper than the sword. Here is an example ....

Thank you for following me today at the National Gallery. Hopefully I can come back another time with an equally interesting exhibition. See you...</div>

---

---

View this post on TravelFeed for the best experience.