Humanity has never stopped moving. One life, one family, one nation – it seems fixed when you think of it that way, but if you imagine a long time, humanity keeps moving. The reasons for moving are many. It may have been more often the case that we had to move. Moving entails risks. But if we try to find the good side, we feel that there is a ‘new me’ out there. Which is more like ‘human’ , standing still or moving? People who live in constant movement, people who are forced to move, their way of life poses a question to those who stay put. The discovery of a new self also leads to the discovery of a new society.
This programme focuses on the lives of people living in movement or forced to move in the city of Yogyakarta, Indonesia. While learning from them and reflecting on oneself, collaborative social practice will be practised by interweaving anthropological and artistic methods.
Reflection / Relocation
Student Projects
Jalan Cerita by Abdul Masli
Yogyakarta city- located in the Special Region of Yogyakarta is built by tourism stories. Tourism has shaped the identity of this city, especially after UNESCO designated Yogyakarta’s Axis of Philosophy as World Cultural Heritage. The philosophical sphere of the Javanese culture is represented by connected icons and monuments forming an imaginary line through the region: Merapi Volcano, Tugu Monument, Yogyakarta Palace, Krapyak Wall, and Parangtritis Beach. This imaginary line is commonly referred to as sumbu filosofi (Axis of Philosophy). The most cultural as well tourism activities generally are located on sites between Tugu Monument and Yogyakarta Palace. These are also a part of the “special things” in the Special Region of Yogyakarta.
Instead of enjoying mainstream tourism places, visitors are given opportunities to interact with people and places that are often “overlooked” as part of the city.
Place is more than just location, as each place has its own characteristic and emotion that form its identity and meaning. We tourists also co-create the image of certain places. But, are we aware of the interpretation we assigned to the sites we visited? Who gets to decide what is the special, what is not? What did we miss on our last trip? Here #jalancerita provides an alternative route for you to embrace the “overlooked” in the special city.
Menyang Malioboro by Anindya Laksmi Larasati
Menyang Malioboro -a Javanese terms, literary mean “Goes to Malioboro”- is the title of this project. Menyang Malioboro is a bulletin project that I create together with people who involve in tourism industry (street vendors and domestic tourists) in Malioboro street. It is meant to be a space for freedom of expression, communicating with each other, and giving opinions to respond to various issues related to tourism. This project is a medium for reflection on Yogyakarta tourism and hopefully can activate the communication of ideas in public spaces through photos and stories of Malioboro tourist experiences.
The results of tourist opinions are summarized in two (2) editions of bulletin. Initially, I distributed a letter to tourists to invite them to get involved. If they are interested to participate, they can scan the barcode on the letter.
The aim of this project is to understand the impact of the relocation of street vendors in Malioboro. However, I found that “relocation” is a sensitive issue to discuss. Therefore, the author uses the general tagline “issues to tourism policy” as the entry point to find the impact of relocation.
Malioboro has been through various conflicts and contestation between many parties who have interests in it. That is another side of Malioboro that people rarely talk about. You can find both of Malioboro’s side in Menyang Malioboro.
Human migration is not only limited to physical movement from one place to another but also includes the transformations of ideas and mindset. When a person migrates, there are complex interactions happening, which may alter how individuals see and consider the world and themselves. Nevertheless, this certainly would not generalize to everyone.
The transformation has also been experienced by Papuan student community who stay in Yogyakarta. Historically, Papua has a complicated political position within Indonesia. Significant numbers of Papuan think that its integration to Indonesia was by forced and currently they are still under Indonesia’s occupation. Socio-politically, Papuans have been witnessing years of conflicts and violence in the regions. On the other hand, people outside the island (including Javanese people) have developed stereotyping images toward Papuan as “unfriendly”, “violent people”, and “cannot obey rules”. In Yogyakarta, Papuan students face discrimination and racism, and thus has developed their own way to make connections with people from multicultural backgrounds in Yogyakarta.
This exhibition is part of the way I try to make closer connection with young people from Papua who live in Yogyakarta, especially Papuan students who stay in the Kamasan I Student Dormitory. The project begins with an anthropological approach as I conducted observations and joined their daily activities. In my visits I learn the way they build complex relationships with their peers in the dormitory and with people they consider “outsiders”. While we were interacting, I took some pictures to honor the moments with my phone camera, and from these pictures I made illustrative art. I sketched the photos and tried to tell their stories without giving away their identity.
At the end of the project, I organized an exhibition of the sketches inside the dormitory. I discussed with the Papuan young people about what they see from my sketches. Various issues were discussed, especially how the Papuan youth internalized the identity as marginalized group within Indonesian society; and how the collective memory of being Papuan in Indonesia has been passed down from generation to generation.
