Calon Arang

by Toeti Heraty

Against All Odds

By Idanna Pucci
Illustrated by A.A. Made Djelantik

Butterflies of Bali

By Victor Mason

Vessels of Life

by Jean McKinnon

Sale of Women's Art to raise money for community health in Aceh

How Aceh was affected by the Tsunami
On Dec. 26, 2004 a huge earthquake struck the Indian Ocean, just off the coast of Aceh, Indonesia. The Tsunami that followed annihilated over 250 miles of Aceh's coastline. A black wall of water, meters high, marched again and again ghree to five kilometers inland, destroying everything in its path. The number of souls lost can never be calculated. Bumi Sehat was given the opportunity to do medical relief in Sama Tiga, Aceh, close to the epicenter of the earthquake, and close to the political conflict that had ravaged these people for a generation. They have set up a community health centre here and continue helping the members of this community with grief and trauma counselling, facilitating their return to a healthy life and providing maternity and midwifery services to the community free of charge.

The Tsunami victims they serve are, for the most part, still homeless. They live in tents, with host families, in crowded barracks, or worse. The average survivor has lost 12 close family members. The Bumi Sehat staff provides a language/information bridge between governmental organizations serving the area and the displaced people of Aceh. One of their achievements has been helping to find fragmented communities of survivors and to identify their needs. The trauma and heartbreak of losing almost everyone they loved, of losing their homes, and everything within, even the clothing on their back, still plagues the survivors. It is a long road back to recovery.

Click here to view the artwork. Below are articles about the artwork.

20 Women Artists Read Calon Arang

For the english edition of the poetic statement of Toeti Heraty, Calon Arang, the Story of a Woman Sacrificed to Patriarchy, women artists of Bali have joined hands in depicting CalonArang through art. The book has been launched at the Ubud Writers and Readers Festival, and following a preview at the Komaneka Fine Art Gallery and exhibition at Alila ubud, the paintings illustrating the book are touring to Jakarta.

About the Exibition - 20 Women Artists - Reading Calon Arang
 – Rifky Effendy, Curator of Galeri Cemara 6, Jakarta

The paintings exhibited have come out of each individual artist’s interpretation of Toeti Heraty’s lyrical prose: “Calon Arang, the Story of a Woman Sacrificed to Patriarchy”, which raises the issue of patriarchal culture and women’s discourse in the context of a culture.

Over the space of two months, this interpretation was led by a reading of the lyrical prose in two workshops, where each artist selected and delved into the parts they found moving and important. They then poured the textual material they had absorbed into visual works, which was then used to illustrate the prose in certain chapters.

When reading, dialogs arise between narrations in the parts of the prose itself with the context of individual emotion and the cultural background of the reader.

This interpretation gave birth to rich and varied artistic forms. The works present here do not simply exist to accompany the prose. More than that: the visual form creates an intertextuality between the two. Instead, both are present within a context as equals as they strengthen each other.

Other Titles:

Take Me to Paradise

The Art of Learning by Doing

Bali Sacred & Secret

Butterflies of Bali

High Tide Low Tide

In the Arms of the Angels

A Little Bit One O'Clock

Obat Asli

Poems from the Happy Inn

Tsunami Notebook

Vessels of Life

Words of Silence

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