I created the work ‘Binds and Blinds’ by collecting around 650 ‘navel selfies’ from people living throughout Indonesia. Participants sent me their navel selfies anonymously after I made open calls via Facebook, WhatsApp and with help from media partner, detikHOT. This work reflects my concern towards mounting intolerance, particularly the imposition of moral values on others. Morality can bind us, but it can also blind us. Rather than focusing on external influences, increasingly, we need to go inward again and look inside ourselves. We need to do a bit of ‘navel gazing’ to orient and position ourselves or simply find our common sense. Perhaps this could take us back to the default state of humanity, where values are perpetually renewed.
Thank you to everybody who contributed their belly button and to detik.com