Capture, Torture, Kill, Throw by renowed Indonesian artist, Dadang Christanto and Chronicle by emerging Brisbane-based artist, Aaron Perkins.
Christanto’s new series of works consists of graphic, imagined portraits of victims tortured during the mass killings in Indonesia between 1965 and 1966. These atrocities are of immense personal trauma for Christanto, as his father who was both a communist sympathiser and ethnic Chinese— two targeted groups in this genocide— was kidnapped and likely murdered during this period.
A consistent subject in his work, Christanto continues to depict the violent atrocities as both an act of remembrance to the victims of such political violence and to record the history of an event that has never been formally recognised by the Government of Indonesia. In his continuous search for documents recording the murders of victims, especially his father, Christanto has searched for photographs rumoured to exist. However, Christanto has been unable to discover these, and as such these portraits are imagined from the accounts of survivors.
Perkins’ works also deal with the notion of history and explore the question of contemporary history painting. In the 21st Century, there is an omnipresent awareness of our global connectedness. No longer is there any illusion of a grand historical narrative, and as such, Perkins’ work aims to consider the way history painting can capture a multitude of voices. Referencing the literary genre of ‘autofiction,’ Perkins combines photojournalistic images and cryptic crosswords from a given date to explore the possibility of an expanded historical framework.
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Image: Dadang Christanto – Ciduk, Siska, Bunuh, Buang V (2018), Acrylic and charcoal on canvas, 170 x 145 cm
