A Reason to Live

Sebuah Alasan Untuk Hidup

2018

Performance and installation

Glass cabinet, ceramic birds by the artist

30 minutes performance

Installation dimensions variable

Gudskul, Jakarta

A Reason to Live is a performance to activate installation in the site. The performer aimed a flashlight to clay birds while she walked and ran around the installation to create shadows of birds as if they were flying away.

In this work, the artist performed in almost complete darkness. Consequently, the audience could not see the performer clearly. Instead, they felt her present by the wind direction while the performer moved. They also navigated the performer by the sound of hand hitting chest mimicking the sound of flapping wings sounding closer or more distant. The performer transformed into a silhouette and partial body with glimpses of a face. Accordingly, the anonymous self became a welcoming vessel for the viewers to feel their presence in reflective and silent yet solitary space.

This performance loosely took a Quranic and biblical story of the prophet Isa (Jesus) who created a bird out of clay and breathes into it; the bird comes alive and flies away into the air. From there, she used the story as a contextual metaphor of giving life vigorously to dead beings in spite of the spiritless condition in a selfless manner.