Circulated, Yos Suprapto's Painting Is Considered To Show Unethnic State Criticism Of Managing Land For The Community

Director of Amnesty International Indonesia (Diah Ayu/VOI)

JAKARTA - Director of Amnesty International Indonesia Usman Hamid spoke about the cancellation of the painting exhibition by artist Yos Suprapto entitled "Revival: Land for Food Sovereignty" at the National Gallery.

The circulation of this painting exhibition is in the public spotlight. There are five paintings that provoke controversy because the object of the painting is similar to the 7th President of the Republic of Indonesia Joko Widodo.

Usman assessed that Yos's controversial works were arrested as criticism of a country that seemed not to maintain ethics in managing land for the community.

"The public does not have sovereignty over the land. Well, at that point I can understand why there are concerns from that element of power," Usman said in a discussion in Cikini, Central Jakarta, Sunday, December 22.

For Usman, this painting belonging to Yos Suprapto has become a kind of entanglement or tongue from the community whose rights are marginalized by development that is thirsty for land, hungry for land, and not environmentally friendly.

"Well, to this point, actually Yos' artistic expression is not just an expression of the beauty of art, but something ethical. So it is no longer artistic, nor aesthetic, but has been included in the ethical dimension of the state, nation, and society," explained Usman.

In the concept of human rights, Usman said that works of art are protected by the principles of artistic freedom, as long as they do not attack human characters based on ethnicity, religious race, ethnicity, and gender.

So, this should actually be far from an act of education. According to him, dilation only occurs in authoritarian countries. In many cases, such as in Indonesia during the new order, most of the censorship and the elimination of an activity are carried out for reasons of political norms or political stability.

"So when the news of Mas Yos Suprapto's painting was asked to be revoked, I immediately imagined that there might be political criticism in it," said Usman.

The painting by Yos Suprapto entitled Revival: Land for Food Sovereignty was stopped by the Jakarta National Gallery on Thursday, December 19. Visitors are prohibited from seeing the painting exhibition which is planned to open for the next month.

Yos explained, before the exhibition was canceled, the curator appointed by the National Gallery, Suwarno Wisetrotomo, had asked five Yos paintings interpreted as Jokowi, among 30 paintings, to be taken down.

Feeling objected, Yos said that if the five were lowered, he would cancel the exhibition as a whole. His work will also be brought back to Yogyakarta.

"I don't want to deal with the National Gallery and the Ministry of Culture anymore," said Yos.

Meanwhile, the Indonesian National Gallery explained that the delay was taken after the exhibition curator, Suwarno Wisetrotomo, chose to resign due to disagreements between the curator and the artist.