Born
1961 BA NDUNG, INDONESI A
Lives / WorksYOGYA K A RTA, INDONESI A

ARAHMAIANI
Dutch Wife (2013)
Arahmaiani (1961, Bandung, Indonesia, lives and works inYogyakarta) is one of the front runners of the Indonesian avantgarde. Her radical and at times controversial political andsocial engagement is a logical consequence of her own life story.
Arahmaiani grew up under the New Order Regime of General
Suharto that saw oppression, corruption, injustice and violence.
She was born in a diverse family, with a father who was a Muslim
leader and a mother who was a Javanese Hindu-Buddhist. There
were many social and political issues for Arahmaiani to revolt
against, but also a lot of conflicting interests for her to try tounite with each other. Her name was the result of a concession
her parents made. Arahma goes back to the Arabic language
meaning ‘loving’, and iani means ‘human being’ in Hindi.
Arahmaiani gains her international reputation foremost
from her performances in which she aims at critical awarenessamongst the public towards political, religious and social issues.
She also produces paintings, installation, photography andvideo, and publishes extensively in international media about
a range of global and local issues that she is concerned about.
Arahmaiani gives a voice to minorities and to the oppressed,
through participatory projects developed with social and religious communities. Since 2010 Arahmaiani has been working
with Tibetan Buddhist monks toward implementing ecologicallysustainable uses of the Tibetan Plateau: a vital source for water,
for the entire region.
Arahmaiani often touches upon her personal experiences
and circumstances in her work: as a female artist and a Muslim
who fights against extremist beliefs, laws and regulations. At
the Indonesian Pavilion for the 50th Venice Biennale in 2003,
Arahmaiani featured her installation June 11th 2002, referring36

to a series of traumatic experiences, the year before. On a stopover at Los Angeles International Airport, on her way to Canada,
she got arrested for not holding a transit visa. It was just after
9/11, and during her four hour-long ordeal she was placed underconstant surveillance by two male officers, for fear that she could
be a terrorist.
For Suspended Histories Arahmaiani has made a special
photo installation for which she did extensive research on female
slaves in the former Dutch Indies. With this work she wants todraw attention to the fact that the oppression of women in thisworld is still a fact, even today. It did not vanish when the former
Dutch colonies became free and independent nations. With globalization, a modern kind of slavery has emerged. These slavesof the past become the domestic workers of the present.

Arahmaiani graduated from the Faculty of Fine Arts and Designat the Institut Teknologi Bandung (ITB, Bandung) in 1983 andstudied both in Australia, at the National Art School in Sydney, and at the Academie voor Beeldende Kunst in Enschede.
Her work was celebrated in an important retrospective, Slow
Down Bro..! at the Jogja National Museum in 2008. She’s shown
her work in group exhibitions in, among others, MOCA, Beijing (2011); 4A Centre for Contemporary Asian Art, Sydney(2011); Bentara Budaya, Yogyakarta (2009); Alexander Ochs
Gallery, Berlin (2008); J&Z Gallery, Shenzhen (2007); Brooklyn Museum in New York (2007); Jim Thompson Art Centre,Bangkok (2006). She also participated in Biennale Jogja 11,
Yogyakarta (2011); Sydney Festival (2010) and the 50th Venice
Biennale (2003).
Arahmaiani, Dutch Wife,
2013, digital photo prints

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Arahmaiani
Dutch Wife
2013, photography
Anke Teunissen
retouch Patrick de Bas /DOG postproduction

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