In 2013, I undertook a three week residency at Jatiwangi Art Factory in Jatiwangi, a village in West Java.
I drove along Daendels’ ‘Grote Postweg’ or ‘Great Post road’ on a daily basis. This road connects Bandung with Cirebon. Locals call it “the blood road”, referring to the high death toll of exploited laborers that were forced to work on this 1000kms-long road by the colonizers in 1808. Aside being laid for transport and trade, the road served military purposes, including the “fast” mobilization of troops that were to defend the north coast from the English entering Java.
The cruelty that happened here is in stark contrast with the beautiful landscapes surrounding the area. I copied the landscapes that are painted on becaks [peddle bicycles] operating on this ‘Grote Postweg’ onto wooden panels (22×17 cm each) in collaboration with Penho and Anex, local artist inhabitants of Jatiwangi village. These 34 wooden panels I made into a skirt. The skirt is worn by a Sufi dancer who dances and spins until he collapses.