Maryanto | When The Trees Fall

1 - 5 Marzo 2023
  • Deeply concerned about geo-political and environmental issues around Southeast Asia, particularly his home country Indonesia, Maryanto creates evocative monochrome paintings, drawings, and installations that remind us of underlying power hierarchies that invisibly demarcate our lands. On the occasion of Art Dubai 2023, Maryanto has developed a new body of work specially for Bawwaba, a section curated by independent curator Vipash Purichanot spotlighting notable artists from the Global South.

     

    Expanding on his past research into various areas of exploitation in Indonesia such as volcanic sand mining around Mount Merapi and oil dredging in Wonocolo, East Java, Maryanto continues to bring attention to environmental issues in the country. This time, he sheds light on the rampant development of palm oil plantations in South Kalimantan and the gradual encroachment of its forests as a result. Indonesia is the largest exporter of palm oil, accounting for 68% of the world’s palm oil production. At the same time, he touches on the themes of transmigration, ownership, and capitalism. While he does not set out to frame his practice as environmental activism, Maryanto considers his works as aspirational: bringing public awareness to issues that he is not able to change on his own.

  • From surveying historical accounts to a trip down to South Kalimantan and interacting with the locals there, Maryanto traces how... From surveying historical accounts to a trip down to South Kalimantan and interacting with the locals there, Maryanto traces how...

    From surveying historical accounts to a trip down to South Kalimantan and interacting with the locals there, Maryanto traces how the region fell prey to palm oil and mining industries since the 1970s, leaving indigenous tribes battling to claim autonomy over their land and protect these forests in present-day. The indigenous community in Kalimantan depend on the forests for their livelihoods, including harvesting essential ingredients for medicine and traditional rituals. Yet the growth of palm oil industries leading to unrestrained deforestation has disrupted much of their customs and ways of living. 

     

    Right: still from Maryanto, Perjalanan Kelapa Sawit (The Journey to Find Palm Oil), 2023, Shot by the artist on iPhone video, narrated in Bahasa Indonesia with subtitles in English, Edition of 3 plus 1 artist's proof, 15 mins

  • Through a tedious method of layering and scratching, Maryanto creates his monochromatic landscapes in the form of hyperrealistic paintings. Being... Through a tedious method of layering and scratching, Maryanto creates his monochromatic landscapes in the form of hyperrealistic paintings. Being... Through a tedious method of layering and scratching, Maryanto creates his monochromatic landscapes in the form of hyperrealistic paintings. Being...
    Through a tedious method of layering and scratching, Maryanto creates his monochromatic landscapes in the form of hyperrealistic paintings. Being process-focused, he patiently carves and etches fine lines and forms, gradually revealing the hidden images within the canvas covered in black acrylic paint. In uncovering these images, Maryanto reveals the tensions that lie within these lands between social and economic currency. As Maryanto remains steadfast in uncovering stories of unspoken truths within these deeply political spaces, we are made to acknowledge the sobering reality of South Kalimantan’s depleting forests. Underpinning these works is a profound understanding of the ongoing struggle of these indigenous people to protect their ancestral lands, which not only means protecting the environment, but also preserving the traditions of customs of indigenous culture. Maryanto’s works can be considered as an archive that reflects the history of these landscapes through time – once idyllic spaces that have been corrupted by systems of power – while protesting its imminent future.
  • Economic development often comes at the expense of the environment and culture. Indonesia is no exception. As capitalist values begin...
    Maryanto, Palm Spirit, 2023, Charcoal on canvas, 210 x 150 cm

    Economic development often comes at the expense of the environment and culture. Indonesia is no exception. As capitalist values begin to erode traditions and living spaces of the indigenous communities, native lifestyles have been forced into dramatic transformations. Where the indigenous communities depend on the forests in Kalimantan for harvest, their livelihoods are increasingly threatened by the rampant deforestation in the region. With the widespread development of palm oil plantations, monoculture is causing the gradual disappearance of many different types of flora and fauna that the locals use for medicines and traditional rituals.

    For instance, a traditional ceremony at the Paser tribes called Belian is performed for the purpose of healing the village, honouring ancestors, and seeking blessings for the environment. Lasting from one to six days, it involves collecting 100 types of plants, leaves, and roots from the forests as offerings, which is becoming increasingly difficult to assemble as forests are cleared. Many historic sites have also been destroyed, leaving little to be remembered and cared for by the next generations. Palm Spirit (2023) highlights such political tensions set within the forests, as the indigenous people grapple to protect the forests and preserve their own culture. While the future looks indisputably bleak, the work seems to capture an unwavering faith against all odds.

  • Fresh Fruit Bunch (2023) depicts a scene that appears in the documentary film charting Maryanto’s journey to the Kalimantan forests and interacting with the indigenous people there to understand the extent of destruction happening in the region. He brings attention to the issue of transmigration in Borneo, which has in part resulted in the transformation of the island’s landscape. In the 1970s, the government introduced the notion of land ownership and the issuance of permits to businessmen, which led to a surge of companies from outside Kalimantan arriving and clearing the swaths of forests for cultivation. The Plasma Program was launched to support transmigrant communities to establish their own palm oil plantations and gain ownership of the land. Eventually, more land was cleared to make room for these new settlers or transmigrants.

     

    However, land ownership and Forest Processing Rights are at odds with the beliefs of the indigenous people. To them, these lands belong to no one. They are not property that could nor should be owned by individuals or companies. Despite this, many locals have started to plant palm oil too, seeing the success and prosperity of the transmigrants. The land-respecting way of life has ultimately given way to a consumerist and capitalist mindset. 

  • Maryanto, When Trees Fall, 2023, Acrylic on canvas, 150 x 200 cm
  • The rife deforestation in South Kalimantan is brought to bear in Maryanto’s black and white paintings. When The Trees Fall (2023) captures the now quotidian moment of the area. A master of the scratching technique and widely respected amongst the artist community in Yogyakarta, Maryanto undermines the romantic language of traditional landscape painting to examine socio-political structures in the physical spaces that he depicts. They act as a subversive reference on historical books published during the colonial period, where the Dutch Indies had used the natural landscapes to promote the beauty of Indonesia as propaganda.

    During Maryanto’s time in South Kalimantan, he also learned of the illegal logging operations taking place. He encountered a group of loggers from the local community there, who shared the constant perils of timber theft. While it has not reached the customary forests of the indigenous people, it remains a potential threat that they have to mitigate. Locals are actively fighting for the recognition of these forests in order to gain legal protection for them. When The Trees Fall (2023) inevitably raises the philosophical thought around the unobserved phenomenon: ‘If a tree falls in a forest and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound?’ Though the dredging of forests in Kalimantan is discernibly felt and experienced by the locals on a daily basis, it occurs without the scrutiny of the rest of the world.

  • Maryanto, ‘’Rukun Tresna” (Harmonious and Affectionate)’, 2019, site-specific installation for 900mdpl
    Maryanto, ‘’Rukun Tresna” (Harmonious and Affectionate)’, 2019, site-specific installation for 900mdpl
    Maryanto, ‘’Rukun Tresna” (Harmonious and Affectionate)’, 2019, site-specific installation for 900mdpl
    Maryanto, ‘’Rukun Tresna” (Harmonious and Affectionate)’, 2019, site-specific installation for 900mdpl

    Maryanto, ‘’Rukun Tresna” (Harmonious and Affectionate)’, 2019, site-specific installation for 900mdpl

  • Beyond his monochromatic paintings, Maryanto also taps on other mediums in this presentation to convey the unbridled impingement of the...
    Maryanto, Palm Oil District, 2023, 21 x 15 cm x 11 pcs, Embroidery, installation on wall

    Beyond his monochromatic paintings, Maryanto also taps on other mediums in this presentation to convey the unbridled impingement of the natural environment in the region. Palm Oil District (2023) comprises 11 embroidered crests that bring attention to the provinces in Indonesia that were once revered for its lush landscape but have now been taken over by palm oil plantations. Featuring the original emblems with motifs often symbolising prosperity and environmental protection, the work recalls a distant ideology.

    Palm Oil District references an earlier work in 2019, “Rukun Tresna” (Harmonious and Affectionate), a site-specific installation of free-standing flags that represent the various hobbies and leisure activities in Indonesia. Commissioned for 900MDPL Hantu-Hantu Seribu Percakapan (Ghosts of a Thousand Conversations) in Kaliurang, a village on the southern slope of Merapi in Indonesia, the work is imbued with the possibility of preservation and transmission of transgenerational memory. Like in Maryanto’s latest work for Art Dubai, Palm Oil District creates an alternative archive for local histories, wisdom, and myths.

     

  • Maryanto’s involvement with the community in Yogyakarta is highly perceptible throughout his works. His silkscreen print, Palm oil in daily...
    Maryanto, Palm oil in daily life, 2023

    Maryanto’s involvement with the community in Yogyakarta is highly perceptible throughout his works. His silkscreen print, Palm oil in daily life (2023) responds critically to cultural debates in the Asia Pacific region. In this work, the palm plant is engulfed by a deluge of logos from multi-corporations and household brand names not foreign to us. From Oreo to Nestle, these products all contain palm oil that could have originated from these plantations in Indonesia. Maryanto urges us to acknowledge how ubiquitous palm oil has become in our lives, perhaps even unwittingly. Recalling the sensibilities of a makeshift signboard by activists and protestors, Palm oil in daily life is imbued with the same ardour as the acts of valour these indigenous communities are making to protect their forests. Sales from this work will help raise funds for palm oil deforestation awareness efforts.

  • Each province in Indonesia carries their own unique saying, mostly written in antiquated vernacular. For Becoming Palm (2023), Maryanto borrows the vocabulary from ancient Borneo literature that is no longer used in modern day. “Bujur banar ruhui rahayu” loosely translates to “it is really peaceful and serene-harmonious” and can be understood as a saying in East Kalimantan to describe the serene beauty of the environment. Yet its regional symbol only features the latter words ‘ruhui rahayu’. The story behind its abridged adaptation was said to be that the region’s leader had studied in West Java (Sudan) and ‘bujur’ means ‘ass/arse’ in Sudanese.

    These words are placed in stark contrast to the scenery Maryanto has depicted, which reveals the reality of the Kalimantan forests and its extensive devastation. He imitates the Mooi Indie style of painting, which was the à la mode to promote the scenic landscapes of Asia before photography was popularised and is now often seen in the national collections in Europe. It draws a connection to the Dutch colonial period that had first introduced the development of plantations, transmigration, and land ownership in Indonesia, where postcards of these scenic landscapes were often sent back home in request for more financial assistance to develop the plantations. Lamenting the irrevocable ruin of the forests in present-day, Maryanto subverts this idea as a plea for corporations to stop pumping investments to its lands. He recalls a Javanese proverb that encapsulates the struggles of the community in its earnest pursuit for tranquillity, fertility, prosperity, and nobleness: gemah ripah loh jinawi.

  • Maryanto, Becoming Palm “BUJUR BANAR RUHUI RAHAYU (it’s really serene and harmonious)”, 2023, Charcoal on fabric, 100 x 300 cm
  • On a more intimate scale than his monochromatic paintings, Maryanto created these 9 scratchings on photo paper. Some of the compositions here recall the scenes in the adjacent documentary video work, where idyllic and sacred moments are placed in contrast to the violence and disruption brought about by palm oil and coal mining industries.
  • Previous installations by Maryanto

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