Image from Supervivere

Mulyani’s work demonstrates the capacity of art to shine a light on the violence that states are not yet willing to recognize. It also illuminates how the impacts of the violence of the 1960s has residual effects that are still felt today. 

Detail from Oleh-Oleh (Souvenir)

Elisabeth Ida Mulyani

Over several months in Indonesia from 1965-66, some half a million people were killed and more than one million imprisoned because of their purported ties to communism. These large-scale killings followed an attempted coup d’état, which leaders used to justify this widespread purging of purported communists and ethnic Chinese. The aftermath of this atrocity led to the installation of Suharto as president. He retained dictatorial control of the country for over thirty years.

Until today, the Indonesian government has remained largely silent on this period of atrocity violence. Elisabeth Ida Mulyani’s work responds to the enduring realities of this violence in Indonesian life. Oleh-oleh [Souvenir] is a sculptural and sound installation of 13 ears arranged on the wall to commemorate 13 activists who were kidnapped in the 1990s for speaking out against the dictatorial regime that began in 1965. The black umbrellas outside the entrance to this piece represent the umbrellas carried by the mothers of these activists when they stand in front of the presidential palace in Jakarta each Thursday, protesting the disappearance of their children. Supervivere is a photography series that documents the lives of several Indonesian exiles who were made stateless when their citizenships were revoked by the Indonesian government in 1965. They continue to live abroad today in Belgium and the Netherlands. Mulyani’s work demonstrates the capacity of art to shine a light on the violence that states are not yet willing to recognize. It also illuminates how the impacts of the violence of the 1960s has residual effects that are still felt today.

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Born in Indonesia, based in Belgium, Elisabeth Ida Mulyani graduated in 2010 with high distinction as a Master of Visual Arts in photography from the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Ghent, Belgium. Elisabeth does interdisciplinary work and uses various media including video, installation and performance. Elisabeth Ida has been awarded by Antwerp Fotomuseum the title of “Young Belgian Talent” and by S.M.A.K. (museum of contemporary arts in Ghent) of “Coming People”, a selection of best graduates of Belgian art schools. She has exhibited in Taman Ismail Marzuki Jakarta, Utan Kayu Jakarta, S.M.A.K. Ghent, Musée de la Photographie Charleroi, De Brakke Grond Amsterdam, Bozar Brussels, Cultuurcentrum Strombeek, Centre Culturel Français (CCF) Surabaya, Espace Niemeyer Paris, and many others. Her first book “Inside Embassies” is published by Art Paper Editions in 2015 and is selected as one of the best books of 2016 by Kaleid Editions in Oslo. Her recent artistic work and research handles the subject of Indonesia’s 1965 genocide and its succeeding brainwash.

Elisabeth Ida Mulyani
​Images from Supervivere
2012-2014

To watch the video component of this work, click here.