Monday, July 09, 2012


NAFA’S Residensi Showcase Cycle One 2012 | Thursday July 12th, 7.30 PM

A Group Exhibition by
Anisa Abdullah
Anissa Aziz feat. Tina Wahyuningsih
Hirzaq Harris
Imam Santoso
Mulyo Gunarso
Shahrul Hisham Ahmad Tarmizi

At Independent Art-Space & Management | I AM
Jalan Nagan Lor 25 Yogyakarta

Officiated by Farah Wardani
Music Performance by Rattlesnake
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A Breathing Voice of South East Asia
By Anis Azlinda Abdul Ghani

NAFA’S Residency was established in January 2012; born with a grand intent to discover a Southeast Asian voice of art. There is much richness in the diverse culture of Southeast Asia, and it is not surprising that its layers of depth could leave one marveled and overwhelmed at the same time.

Since January, NAFA’S has housed four Malaysian and two Indonesian emerging artists, whom had spent varying period at the residency – each between one, three and six months. Although their presence there may be concurrent, they each work independently.

Interestingly though, all works featured at this First Cycle Exhibition centers around themes of personal reflections.

In Shahrul Hisham's works, artist is portrayed a traveler in continuous search of new knowledge. Yet he can never deny his origin and identity thus will still be a Malay and a Muslim wherever in the world he may be.

Hirzaq Harris showed another side of Muslims he finds to be common these days: disgusted by the haram pigs yet gladly opt to ignore other haram aspects in life. Oblivion is unacceptable in lives of Muslims. Rather, a life in search of truth should prevail, one that strives to put halal over haram with no excuses. The noblest of intentions could still pave the route to hell.

Anisa Abdullah chose to take her viewers along through her life adventures. She painted snapshots from her stint in the city from her point of view. Yet her quest is one that we can all relate to; of dreams and ambitions and decisions. She warns us though, to never be too rushed and uptight in our own. And to remember to have a breather to enjoy our life surroundings at the same time.

Along similar lines, Anissa Abdul Aziz's installation that is currently in Galeri Chandan @ Publika, Kuala Lumpur, was derived from the idea of tracing her artistic journey. Anissa created and manipulated the overlapping baby cloth as a metaphor to represent her newness, freshness and immaturity in the industry. The artwork is an imagination with stuffed fabric suspended from nowhere. To her, the gaps between the pieces is as important as the connection, as when viewed in totality, is a mixture of logic and intuition. Her installation for this exhibition will be a continuation from the one that is currently being exhibited in Kuala Lumpur.

Mulyo Gunarso reflected on the negative effects of rapid industrialisation and the lack of control in logging and forestry industry. The impacts not only affect humans but also flora and fauna around us. Should we continue at this pace with little intent to preserve, balance and regenerate, certainly future generations would not carry the same memory of the world as we do.

Imam Santoso's paintings are a consistent reflection of himself; he communicates through them. He includes symbols from his daily life and repeats them in various paintings. He is a symbol of contradiction and is expressive about it. He painted sekaten (fun fair) yet without the usual crowd and noise. He painted the traditional keraton and wonders if teenagers these days would be interested to preserve this iconic culture of the city, or be more consumed by urbanisation and pop culture. His works are vivid yet adaptive, real yet imaginative.

The outcome of the residency hopefully extends beyond better-developed artists, but will also elevate awareness and appreciation of art in the region. Better understanding of our differences and similarities would certainly increase tolerance, empathy and interest for one another, which in turn could only impact all of us positively. May the efforts at NAFA’S encourage others to do the same thus opening more doors of other potential collaborations in the future for continuous evolution of the art industry.

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NAFA’S Residensi
Jalan Ngadisuryan No 7 Patehan
Yogyakarta 55133
T/F +62 274 379 054
E nafasresidency@gmail.com
FB www.facebook.com/nafasresidensi
CP Nunuk Ambarwati 0818 2770 73 | Icha 0815 7871 3748

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