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ART AND HUMAN RIGHTS:
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Canberra Conemporary Art Space |
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Mella Jaarsma was born in 1960, Emmeloord,
The Netherlands. After studies at the Fine Art Academy of Minerva, Groningen,
The Netherlands,
Jaarsma continued her art studies in Indonesia at the Art Institute of
Jakarta in 1984 and the Art Institute of Indonesia in 1985-86. She has
been living and working in Yogyakarta, Indonesia since this time. Jaarsma
works as both an artist and curator and has actively participated in
exhibitions and performances since the mid 1980s. Her recent exhibitions
include the 5th International Exhibition of Sculptures and Installations,
Venice Libo Italy, Gwangju Biennale, Gwangju, Korea and Site
+ Sight: translating cultures, Singapore in 2002 and Floating
Chimeras, Sweden in 2001. Over the past three years Jaarsma has had solo exhibitions in Japan,
Thailand and Indonesia. She is the founder and co-director, with Nindityo
Adipurnomo,
of the Cemeti Art House in Yogyakarta, Indonesia an energetic centre
for the development and exhibition of contemporary art. Jaarsma
is also a board member of the Cemeti Art Foundation and as one of the
representatives
for Indonesia, she advises on the general policy of the program in the
Erasmus Huis, the Dutch Cultural Centre in Jakarta. Jaarsma has recently become known for her elaborate costume installations
and cooking performance works. Through these mediums 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. ‘Hi
Inlander (Hello Native)’ and ‘I Fry You I & II’ are
among her most recognised installation/performance works, in which the
artist asks members of her audience to cook and eat the cuisines of different
cultures as well as to garb themselves in the cloaks that the artist has
fashioned from various animal skins such as frog, fish, kangaroo and chicken.
At the same time as these veils mask the racial background of the wearer,
they are also encouraged to experience ‘another skin’. The artist has said, “I really wanted to create a work which could open up discussions between different kinds of people and to get people interested in different cultures, different religions and so on.” Jaarsma will extend this series of work in Witnessing to Silence: Art and Human Rights creating new cloaks using seaweed, squid, seahorses and medicinal plants to comment on hunting, killing, feeding and healing.
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Mella Jaarsma
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This page has been authorized by Professor Iain McCalman, Director HRC as relevant
officer. |
