ACICIS and Taring Padi

Taring Padi is one of Indonesia’s most well-known political arts collectives, and has been exhibiting domestically and internationally since 1998. In Bahasa Indonesia, Taring Padi refers to the sharp tip, or “teeth,” of the rice crop; for Taring Padi members it is a metaphor for people power.

Taring Padi is an independent non-profit cultural community that is based on the concept of “people power”.  Based in Yogyakarta, Central Java, Taring Padi  is committed to using its artistic and cultural pursuits to contribute actively to the democratisation process in Indonesia and elsewhere.  Since 1998, the collective has created posters and murals, published a newsletter, hosted workshops with visiting school groups and international artists, and participated in street performance with puppets, poetry, and musical groups. In December 2008, Taring Padi celebrated its 10th Anniversary.

Over the years, through the ACICIS Yogya program, many Australian students have become familiar with Taring Padi’s work and have created networks with Taring Padi artists. These collaborations have seen former ACICIS students and Taring Padi members working together on projects like:

• the Gang Festival in Sydney, Australia;
• Festival Mata Air in Salatiga, Central Java;

and seen Taring Padi artists hosted in artist residencies by former ACICIS students in Australia.

To symbolise the many people-to-people links forged between Australians and Indonesians, in 2009 ACICIS commissioned Taring Padi to create a series of woodcuts based on our ‘in-country’ programs. Taring Padi created a stunning series of 6 woodcut prints for us, around the following themes:

1. The Yogyakarta Flexible Immersion Program;
2. The Malang East Java Field Studies Program;
3. The Yogyakarta Insitut Seni Indonesia Program;
4. The Jakarta Journalism Professional Practicum;
5. A print commemorating the volunteer relief efforts of ACICIS students with Yogyakarta residents following the Yogyakarta 2006 earthquake;
6. And a print marking the friendships between Australian and Indonesian students.

For any further information about this project, please contact: acicis.jogja@gmail.com.

To contact Taring Padi, email: traingpadimasihkerja@gmail.com;

Or view the Taring Padi Facebook page

As part of the project, ACICIS students visited the Taring Padi art space in Kasihan, Bantul, where they participated in a one day woodcut workshop and were able to see past examples of Taring Padi’s work and learn more about Indonesian political art. See photos below.