Mella JAARSMA
(Indonesia)
Gallery 3

Mella Jaarsma’s practice delves into the notion of cultural identity and the (mis)conception and increasingly rigidly enforced concept of ‘authenticity’. Born and educated in The Netherlands, Jaarsma has lived in Yogyakarta, Indonesia for the past twenty years. Her recent practice explores the ideas of considering other people’s identities and the notion of shelter. Through her elaborate costume installations, Jaarsma plays with the preconceived notions of cultural norms and boundaries. She emphasises issues of cultural difference and racial diversity in the context of what she sees as a waning tolerance for multi-ethnic and multi-religious societies.

One of her works presented in this exhibition, Asal (2005), comments on the possibilities of mobility and shifting cultural identities, drawing allegorically on the way words and clouds move around the globe. In daily life Jaarsma repeatedly hears “Asal dari mana”? or “Where are you from?” This common Indonesian question is posed not only to foreign-looking people but also as a means to open a conversation. The title Asal translates as 'authentic', and is used in Indonesia to question authenticity. In this way Jaarsma plays with the notion of supposedly fixed cultures. Through the unexpected reality of slippery and shifting cultural boundaries Jaarsma identifies the everpresent instability and changing nature of contemporary cultures.

Her second work, The Follower (2002) is made out of various emblems of membership, from sports clubs and political parties to religious communities. These emblems have been intertwined to create another skin, illustrating the moderate habitat of Indonesia’s hybrid culture.