Semangat! Bangkit/Arise!

When Nano Warsono, Christopher Statton and I began working together three years ago to develop the title and theme Bangkit/Arise, we were thinking about the power of resilience and the belief that it is possible to rise together as a critical mass to demand and create a world rooted in compassion, justice, and equity. More specifically, we thought of the Arab Spring and Occupy, two recent regional and global uprisings rooted in the power of people to collectively organize against the forces contributing to environmental degradation, land grabs, xenophobia, unemployment, food shortages, and human rights abuses. While both movements had deep flaws, their core drive and spirit – semangat – remain: Until our voices are heard, the calls for real, sustainable, and equitable change will grow louder.

Over the past three months as the San Francisco artists prepared to travel to Yogyakarta to begin our international exchange and residency project, we have faced significant challenges due to the current and changing policies in U.S. immigration. Initially two of our artists were not granted visas by the Indonesian Consulate in San Francisco and were left behind as the other five Bay Area artists successfully boarded their flights and arrived in Indonesia. All of the participants of Bangkit/Arise were devastated by this turn of events, feeling a deep sense of loss, absence, and xenophobia – as so many families and communities are currently experiencing in the United States and throughout the world and with much greater stakes.

Keeping in mind the theme behind our project, we persevered and called on our communities to ask for their collective support. Following two weeks of persistent emails, what’s app chats, and phone calls we learned two days ago that the artists left in San Francisco have been granted visas directly by the Immigration department in Indonesia. Our deepest gratitude to the following individuals who helped to make this happen:

Chrisma Albandjar, Special Advisor to the Chief of Staff of the President of the Republic of Indonesia
Triawan Munaf, Head, Creative Economy Agency, Indonesia
Holly Million, Founder & Executive Director, Artists United
Lisa Burger, Board Member, Artists United

– Megan Wilson, co-curator & co-organizer, Bangkit/Arise

 

Ketika Nano Warsono, Christopher Statton dan saya mulai bekerja bersama tiga tahun lalu untuk mengembangkan judul dan tema Bangkit / Bangkit, kami berpikir tentang kekuatan ketahanan dan keyakinan bahwa adalah mungkin untuk bangkit bersama sebagai massa kritis untuk menuntut dan menciptakan sebuah dunia yang berakar pada belas kasih, keadilan, dan kesetaraan. Lebih khusus lagi, kami memikirkan Musim Semi Arab dan Menempati, dua pemberontakan regional dan global baru-baru ini yang berakar pada kekuatan orang-orang untuk bersama-sama mengatur melawan kekuatan yang berkontribusi terhadap degradasi lingkungan, perampasan lahan, xenofobia, pengangguran, kekurangan makanan, dan pelanggaran hak asasi manusia. Sementara kedua gerakan memiliki kelemahan yang dalam, dorongan inti dan semangat mereka – samangat – tetap: Sampai suara kami didengar, panggilan untuk perubahan yang nyata, berkelanjutan, dan adil akan tumbuh lebih keras.

Selama tiga bulan terakhir ketika seniman San Francisco bersiap untuk melakukan perjalanan ke Yogyakarta untuk memulai pertukaran internasional dan proyek residensi kami, kami menghadapi tantangan yang signifikan karena kebijakan saat ini dan perubahan dalam imigrasi AS. Awalnya dua seniman kami tidak diberikan visa oleh Konsulat Indonesia di San Francisco dan tertinggal karena lima seniman Bay Area lainnya berhasil naik ke penerbangan mereka dan tiba di Indonesia. Semua peserta Bangkit / Bangkit hancur oleh kejadian ini, merasakan kehilangan yang dalam, absen, dan xenofobia – seperti yang begitu banyak keluarga dan komunitas saat ini alami di Amerika Serikat dan di seluruh dunia dan dengan taruhan yang jauh lebih besar. .

Dengan mengingat tema di balik proyek kami, kami bertahan dan meminta komunitas kami untuk meminta dukungan kolektif mereka. Setelah dua minggu email terus-menerus, obrolan aplikasi, dan panggilan telepon yang kami pelajari dua hari lalu bahwa para seniman yang tersisa di San Francisco telah diberikan visa secara langsung oleh departemen Imigrasi di Indonesia. Terima kasih kami yang terdalam kepada individu-individu berikut yang membantu mewujudkan hal ini:

Chrisma Albandjar, Special Advisor to the Chief of Staff of the President of the Republic of Indonesia
Triawan Munaf, Head, Creative Economy Agency, Indonesia
Holly Million, Founder & Executive Director, Artists United
Lisa Burger, Board Member, Artists United

– Megan Wilson, co-curator & co-organizer, Bangkit/Arise

Gotong Royong!
Sama-Sama!

 

Three of the San Francisco/Bay Area artists and two of their kids arrive to join Megan and Christopher and the Jogja team: Jet Martinez, Kelly Ording and their two kids Violet and Lazlo, and Jose Guerra Awe:



Lunch outing on our way to Museum Ullen Sentalu!

Yogya artists take SF/Bay Area artists on tour of possible wall spaces for murals – inside and outside Institut Seni Indonesia (ISI) and around Desa Panggungharjo:



Lunch with Yogyakarta & SF/Bay Area artists/crew: L -> R Wedhar Riyadi, Lazlo, Vina Puspita (kneeling), Violet, Kelly Ording, Christopher Statton, Bambang Toko, Jet Martinez, Megan Wilson, Nano Warsono, Fino, Affis, Jose Guerra Awe, Hari Ndaruwati, Ucup

First lunch for Yogyakarta and SF/Bay Area artists and their kids to meet one another:



 

Meetings amongst SF/Bay Area and Yogya artists to discuss project at Prambanan Guesthouse: