Member Of Commission X DPR: Yos Suprapto's Censorship Becomes The Bad Precedent Of Prabowo's Government

One of the works of the artist Yos Suprapto (Special DOK)

JAKARTA - Member of Commission X of the House of Representatives of the Republic of Indonesia! Triyana highlighted the closing of the painting exhibition of a senior artist from Yogyakarta, Yos Suprapto at the Indonesian National Gallery which was considered a form of surgery'. He asked the Government not to intervene in works of art.

"The state should be able to provide space for the public or art actors and to curators to be able to critically discuss with the public. So don't be allergic and intervention," saidten Triyana, Saturday, December 21.

As is known, the Indonesian National Gallery canceled a single exhibition in the form of senior Yogyakarta, Yos Suprapto, entitled Revival: Land for Food Sovereignty at the National Gallery Building A a few minutes before the opening on Thursday night, December 19, 2024.

On the opening day of the exhibition, a glass door was seen locked and the lights turned off. Even though the exhibition, which has been prepared since last year, is planned to last for December 20, 2024-19 January 2025.

Badminton has come to the National Gallery (Gallnas) to accompany painter Yos Suprapto in order to facilitate this issue between the artist and the Government. He came to carry out his duties at Commission X of the Indonesian House of Representatives, which is one of his scope of work related to arts and cultural affairs.

Badminton also criticized the cancellation of the Yos painting exhibition by the National Gallery, which is a government-owned building under the Ministry of Culture.

"The state must guarantee the freedom of expression of artists. Censorship of works that occurred in this exhibition could be a bad precedent in the Prabowo Subianto administration," said the legislator from the Banten I electoral district.

The reason Yos Suprapto's single exhibition was canceled was because Suwarno Wisetrotomo, who is the curator of the National Gallery, did not pass five of Yos' 30 paintings because they were considered too vulgar and had nothing to do with the theme of an exhibition on food sovereignty.

The five paintings are related to a figure who has been very popular in Indonesian society and many people call several pictures in the painting similar to the face of the 7th President of the Republic of Indonesia, Joko Widodo (Jokowi).

At the Yos exhibition, there was a painting showing a picture of a king similar to Jokowi stepping on or being judged as a people. There is also a painting depicting a farmer who is feeding a conglomerate.

Despite these assumptions,ctions call fine art, which in this case is painting, is the realm of multiple interpretations.

"After all, art works are a medium for social criticism is a common thing. And art is multiple interpretations, so it's also dangerous to see only from one perspective," explainedtip.

"Soniman has the authority to work with their respective theme and it will not cause any political disasters," he continued.

Meanwhile, Yos said the paintings in question were narratives of exhibition themes. According to him, his painting tells the story of the process of losing food sovereignty in Indonesia.

"Let the space for expression and freedom of speech become public property in the context of the maturation of the Indonesian nation in democracy," saidmen.

When he came to the National Gallery,men were actually allowed to enter the exhibition room and see Yos Suprapto's work firsthand. Even so, he chose not to enter because he wanted the artwork to be enjoyed by everyone without exception.

Furthermore,menging kembali mengingatkan karya art merupakan kebebasan ekspresi yang dijaminkan oleh kontitusi negara.