Expedition For The 2025 Shelter Direction, Eliminating The Land Of Life In Papua Through An Exhibition Entitled 'Eat Key Almig'

YOGYAKARTA - Sore at Omah Budoyo feels warmer than usual. In the beam of the theram lights, TelusURI officially opened an Expeditionary Exhibition for the 2025 Shelter Direction: Eat Key Almig, an expeditionary journey that presents visual and narrational archives and invites visitors to trace human, land, and natural relations in Papua.

Makan Key Almig, yang dalam bahasa masyarakat adat Malint berarti Tanah Hidup, menjadi ketublik yang menggambarkan eseks expedition tahun ini. Melalui berkaris foto, video, dan catatan lapangan, pameran ini mengunjukkan bagaimana masyarakat adat di Sorong, Tambrauw, Jayapura, hingga Merauke menumbuh praktik ekonomi dan budaya yang berkur pada komunimen dengan alam.

In its opening, visitors were greeted by the art show Bara Sunyi in Tanah Harmoni by the ISI Yogyakarta Eastern Student Family Association (IKMT), which described the struggle between humans and land as symbolic.

There is a kind of conflict between strategic projects of the government to strengthen food security and plan to build food lumbung'' in Merauke. The reason is, the indigenous people of the Malin Tribe have a living right that needs to be heard, explained Ayos Purwoaji as the curator of this exhibition.

Curator also explained that the expedition team also went to Jayapura to meet with the Tobati Tribe in Youtefa Bay. The Tobati indigenous people have mangrove customary forests, which can only be entered by women to find shells as their livelihood. Later when there was an expansion of the city of Jayapura, a highway that divides the sea so that it crosses customary forests. Women from the indigenous people of Tobati, admitted that they were worried when they entered this customary forest because it was no longer a safe area for women of this tribe.

Expeditions also call on the indigenous peoples of the Moi Tribe in Sorong. They have a very well-maintained forest, where this forest is the habitat of Cenderawasih birds and other endemic birds, explained Ayos. Because the photo archives and journalistic records are deemed necessary to collaborate with artists from Papua, this exhibition also invites the Collective of Udeido Arts.

The expeditors of the direction of Singgah, Mauren Fitri, Rifqy Faiza Rahman, and Deta Widyananda, also talked about their journey in Papua. The executor describes the story that the land for indigenous peoples in Papua is life. As in the Madin Tribe, tribes that have several names with certain names mark food or animal plants. This name has the aim of protecting habitats that live on the land they live in so that the ecosystem lives in harmony. Through this exhibition, we hope to be able to take the meaning and understanding of what we escape from what we understand so far about Papua's land, explained Deta.

The exhibition, which lasts until December 5, 2025, presents various supporting activities. Starting from workshops, public discussions, to art performances that talk about ecological topics, local wisdom, and sustainability. Through Eat Key Almig, TelusurI not only displays the results of travel, but also invites the public to reflect on the meaning of the land of life, a space that gives breath, stories, and directions for humans living in it.