Three Pairs of Hands, the phrase proposed by Mella Jaarsma as the title of her solo exhibition, is inspired by the collective activity of processing the grated trunk of the Rumbia tree into sago starch by the people in Papua. This activity of processing raw food materials is felt to represent the idea that Mella …
continue readingHow does one review the scope of Mella Jaarsma’s artwork in the fourth decade of her complex art practice? Certainly, it is not easy to extract and succinctly identify the key words that describe her interests that expand over a vast range of issues, as well as her daring exploration of a multitude of approaches …
continue readingOne could be forgiven for extolling the visual poetry of Mella Jaarsma’s art, to the detriment of its conceptual potency. Even a cooking performance, designed for the street, and involving none of Jaarsma’s refined aesthetics and seductively tactile materials, arouses the senses. This piece, titled PribumiPribumi, was produced in 1998 and enlisted non-Indonesian participants to …
continue readingSince the commencement of her interventionist practice in the 1990s, Mella Jaarsma’s work has consistently explored the limits of belonging. Radiating outwards from her local community in Yogyakarta, Central Java, Indonesia, Jaarsma’s explorations have extended across the generally established lineaments of ethnicity, language, religion, and nationality, and onwards into ontological boundaries between species and life …
continue readingA work by Mella Jaarsma for Artjog 2023 Mella Jaarsma was born in 1960 in Emmeloord, Netherlands. She studied visual arts at Minerva Academy of Visual Arts, Groningen, Netherlands (1978-1984), Jakarta Art Institute (1984), and Indonesian Institute of the Arts, Yogyakarta (1985-1986). She resides in Yogyakarta. Three main motifs that have caught Mella Jaarsma’s attention …
continue readingTexs at the catalog for the exhibition Performing Artifacts : Objects in Question at ROH Projects, Jakarta, 2022 The exhibition Performing Artifacts: Objects in Question acts as an integral reflection upon Mella Jaarsma’s artistic practice between 2010-2022, which combines new works with a number of installations within this time period that have never been exhibited …
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