CALON ARANG, WEWE GOMBEL, SUNDAL BOLONG AND KUYANG

“[fundamentally], my drawing is […] a series of decisions. My drawings have never flowed out of me, they take concentration, decision making, and, most mornings, the art of overcoming fear.” 6

“I design an object in Photoshop, as a template of ideas. But then I build up the object with a series of textures. [...] Over the years I’ve built up a vocabulary of what and how I can express my ideas. Initially, I thought I could only capture skin (in portraits), then I went further to cloth, and found I could express clothing and batik. Then I found I could render objects, cabinets, shacks and huts. As the years went by, I built up a sound of stock of what I could do.” 7

The version of the story of Calon Arang that continues to be told is the one in which she was an old woman and a widow (therefore no longer considered attractive and “useful” for reproduction), who was feared because of her power (thus she was accused of being a witch or a chaos bringer). On the level of national history, the New Order government even concocted a tragedy that directly linked the story of Calon Arang with Gerakan Wanita Indonesia (Indonesian Women’s Movement)—no one had rectified this until now! Such an example of killing two birds with one bullet. In a booklet containing a conversation between Nadiah and curator Alia Swastika, which accompanied The Reckoning (2021), we can read about how women’s life stories, behavioural choices, and political stances are—either in a good or bad way—utilised by other people. 8 There are some retellings of the story of Calon Arang, such as by Pramoedya Ananta Toer, which revealed the complexity of the women’s position in Cerita Calon Arang (1951; The King, the Witch and the Priest, 2002), and by Toeti Heraty, Calon Arang: Kisah Perempuan Korban Patriarki (2000; Calon Arang: Stories of a Woman Victim of the Patriarchy), which opened up the possibility to reexamine Calon Arang’s position, reputation, and history. Meanwhile, for Nadiah, Calon Arang’s old age, with her own experience of going through menopause, has become an opportunity to at least claim wisdom that came along with the plethora of life experiences.

Wewe Gombel, Sundal Bolong, and Kuyang all died at a young age, unlike Calon Arang. These three are the “stage names” for women who are known more as demons, ghosts, monsters, or scourges in our everyday lives. Like Mbak Wani, they are all symbolic figures. Not only in Indonesia, but also throughout what is now known as Southeast Asia. Mbak Wani, however, is a symbol of an ideal woman, while the other three “demonised” women are the opposite. They are sources of terror, horror, and scourge. Wewe Gombel committed suicide because she was accused of being barren. Sundal Bolong died when she aborted the child she was carrying due to rape. Kuyang was accused of being greedy because she wanted to rule and live forever. Since time immemorial, they have been made the representations of evil, and this view has always been perpetuated until now without anyone ever discussing the contexts of their actions. For instance: What kind of society cornered a woman who could not bear a child that she chose to end her life? What happened to the rapist of Sundal Bolong? Did he get punished? Was he a demon too? Why was Kuyang thought to crave power? Why don’t our legends tell tales about male monster figures who wanted to overpower the world? Etc.

Nadiah gave Wewe Gombel, Sundal Bolong, and Kuyang—all usually appeared exceptionally terrifying—poses and facial expressions that were calm, serene, and wise. If we still see them as scary, maybe we ought to question: Why is it so difficult for us to let go of such thoughts?

Nadiah emphasised the change in their appearance—from demons to humans—by using her own body and face to depict these three figures. The utilisation of one’s gestures—both body and face—had a wide spectrum. At least we can read it in the following two ways: First, this was one way to claim a social reality—endless demands against women—that continued to be “unchanged”: a woman being a means of reproduction, a partner that is a servant as well. Second, we can see it as a form of solidarity among women, among fellow human beings.

In the exhibition, Mengamankan Ekspektasi (“Securing the Expectation), Jakarta, 2021, it is no longer damnable, Wewe Gombel, Sundal Bolong, and Kuyang are now trying to “gatekeep” Mbak Wani from being positioned as a hyper-feminine symbol. 9 The trio emerged in the form of sculpturesque drawings, while Mbak Wani existed in the form of digital images, which were printed on an aluminium plate, with a dark surrounding, as if they were in the middle of nowhere. Mbak Wani wasn’t the same figure that we could find at the Tugu Tani roundabout. She still carried the same body, pose, hair, and plate, but this figure of Mbak Wani was re-drawn by Nadiah using 3d software. With these 3d images, Nadiah could set free the figure of Mbak Wani—her point of view, gesture, pose, and even facial expression. Mbak Wani who was being “gatekept” by these three women is the Mbak Wani who was reclaimed by Nadiah as a symbol of the women’s movement in Casting Spells for the Movement.

SCALE, DIMENSION, AND SURROUNDING

“When designing a work, it’ll feel that something is missing if I haven’t known where this work would be displayed or where it will live. It’s like working in the dark. Scale, dimension, surrounding, and, yes, the viewers, all have an influence on the form I work with. [...] All parts of the spatial environment where the work will be displayed will influence the work, and not the other way around, which is narcissistically building a specific site for the work while disregarding its surroundings.” 10

Casting Spells for the Movement was born within conversations that were haunted by the slogan, “Building history together.” At that time, Rachel K. Surijata—who also manages the Dewi exhibition—and I were among the members of the Jakarta Biennale 2021: esok ( jb2021 esok) curatorial team. Museum Kebangkitan Nasional (Museum of National Awakening) (stovia), one of the exhibition venues for jb2021 esok, refused to display this work in the classroom where they “immortalised” history with life size dioramas of Boedi Oetomo figures. The statues, which were made of resin and had their colour manipulated to resemble bronze, were all male figures. Of course, the women’s movements were not inexistent when they sat in that classroom, in 1908. The school even had a number of female students.

“Bringing” Mbak Wani into this room, and displaying her “in dialogue” with the figures inside, was a friendly reminder about the position of women in history writing in general. 11

Of course, the refusal didn’t prevent us from exhibiting Casting Spells for the Movement. In the lobby of the Museum Nasional Indonesia [National Museum of Indonesia], about two kilometres from Tugu Tani, Mbak Wani stood gracefully, surrounded by works that challenged the idea of human relations in the context of nationalism (of each of their country) in relation to the international stance held by those countries. My introduction to the figure of Mbak Wani at the beginning of this essay was just one way to interpret Mbak Wani’s revival, with Nadiah as her midwife. Of course, there were various ways and viewpoints to examine this work. The following was an introductory snippet for Ms. Wani’s presence at jb2021 esok—indicating its own criticism towards states’ authoritarianism:

Do you recognize this woman? Perhaps, ten minutes ago, you just crossed paths with her twin. Nadiah brought this figure here, to this museum, on this occasion, to firmly remind us that women are always actually on the move, and their movements echo in our lives today. Have you ever thought about who this woman really was? Or who was she representing?

The monument ordered by Sukarno from the Russian sculptor duo is located at the roundabout that we know as Tugu Tani. Interestingly, the monuments that Onejoon examined, “shrank”, and questioned in many countries in Africa were made by a North Korean sculpture studio since the 1970s. To some extent, we can say that all these national monuments look the same, and have roughly the same aura.

Song Ta’s re-adaptation of the national anthem of the Chinese People’s Republic also felt familiar. The restoration of the lyrics was very popular and the original version was accepted as the official lyrics in 1982 after there were shifts in values during the previous countless turbulent decades. This may have significance for many of you, bearing in mind that earlier this year there was a long debate over the Indonesian national anthem, which apparently has never been sung in its full version in schools and on state occasions.12

In conversations around solidarity, internationalism, and how certain periods changed the way of thinking around these keywords, Casting Spells for the Movement became a turning point for Rachel and me in the context of Rewinding Internationalism’s research and exhibition at the Van Abbemuseum, Eindhoven, and Villa Arson, Nice (2022 –2023).13

In presenting the research results, we “invited” Mbak Wani to have a cross-time, cross-geographical dialogue with Sikan, the only female figure in Abakua culture, worked on by Belkis Ayón Manso (b. Havana, 1967; m. Havana, 1999); with the despair of ecological shifts caused by human greed, capitalism, and politics in the works of Semsar Siahaan (b. Medan, 1952; m. Tabanan, 2005); and with the avant-gardism of Croatian members of the Gorgona group, just after Yugoslavia split apart. These three things were present in the room that examined international solidarity from the standpoint of Non-Aligned countries. At a distance of 14,000 kilometres from her “Tugu Tani”, Mbak Wani became a landmark in the constellation. She stood almost in the middle of the room while other works, stories, and archives of findings surrounded her.

I have learned a lot from conversations about Mbak Wani—her as a figure, her history, her form, her transformations, etc.—up to the realisation that she is a relatively large work, which is not easy to carry or move. Mbak Wani is almost 2.5 metres tall! Apart from jb2021 esok, Casting Spells for the Movement had also appeared as a special presentation at Art Jakarta 2022. On the same occasion, in the Art Jakarta 2022 that was only up for three days, Nadiah exhibited Wewe Gombel, Sundal Bolong, and Kuyang who were attempting to “gatekeep” Mbak Wani. Recently, on the opening day of the Dewi exhibition, in Yogyakarta, the Rewinding Internationalism exhibition at Villa Arson, Nice, France, was also opened. There, Mbak Wani again became a landmark in one of the galleries. Mbak Wani has travelled throughout the globe. The rejection for Mbak Wani’s appearance in the room where we started the conversation about her didn’t limit the space for her movement, both physically, in form, and in the interpretation of this work.