For artist and activist Arahmaiani, art can be a form of reparation and healing. Her performances and community-based work offer a way of addressing historical violence by coming to terms with the past.
In this short video, watch Arahmaiani recreate her 1998 work Burning Country in the galleries at Tate Modern. The work refers to traumatic events witnessed by the artist in her home country of Indonesia in May 1998.
During a period of economic crises, food shortages and unemployment, students began demonstrating against the authoritarian regime of President Suharto. The killing of four students at a protest triggered three days of arson attacks and acts of racially motivated violence, mostly directed against the Chinese Indonesian population. Around 1,500 people were raped or murdered.
Arahmaiani made black-and-white paintings to mourn the women whom this horror was inflicted upon. For Arahmaiani, this work is a memorial ‘for the souls of the women who were violated and killed’ during the riots.
Research supported by Hyundai Tate Research Centre: Transnational in partnership with Hyundai Motor