tanah milik manusia //manusia milik tanah (2025)
This piece juxtaposes different relationships to the land. In the first tile, working with a traditional Dutch technique of Delft blue, it represents the (Dutch) colonial/modern relationship to the land. This relationship centres power, represented by a shape of a fort (mimicking fort Belgica in Banda Neira), expressing both the abstract power and hierarchy that colonialism exerts, as well as the physical disruption of the land that occurs when a fort is built. This structure is maintained by canons, representing the multilayers violent forces that are needed to maintain that power, and lastly, surrounded by nutmeg and cloves, representing that which is extracted from the earth to emphasise the extractive nature of this colonial relationship to the land. It is placed surrounded by/placed opposite to the sea, representing the relationship of control that underlies this system: the urge to establish order and control of nature. The people control and own the land and nature: tanah milik manusia. It is that relationship we have to dismantle.Placed in opposition is a tile that represent a relationship to the land that many Indigenous peoples experience. Manusia milik tanah: people belong to the land. It epitomises a thinking where people are part of nature, and live in a synergy with the land. Placed countering the violent extractive (Dutch) colonial system, I chose a landscape of Banda to represent this Indigenous relationship. Here, Gunung Api stands at the centre for the volcano's central role in creating a fertile soil that presented the sublime condition for the unique spices to grow. It is surrounded by nature images representing the interconnectedness of all living things, linking the human and more than human. It is a relationship of mutuality and interdependance. it is that relationship we have to restore.