Naomi Srikandi
Naomi Srikandi is a theatre maker and writer. She uses aesthetics as a framework for investigating how images, sounds, and language react to politics. As a performing artist she has participated in various projects, including Prism by Kageboushi Theatre Company (Asean-Japan, 2003), The Seven Spirit Banquet by PARC and Polynational Arts Carnival (Asia Pasific, 2004 and 2006), Di Cong Bak (Teater Garasi-Yogyakarta, Komunitas Tikar Pandan-Aceh, Theater Embassy-Amsterdam, 2005).
With her work on the Pentagonal Icositetrahedron, Naomi Srikandi made a statement inspired by a personal experience. Watching a television news broadcast about a tsunami that happened a few years ago in Aceh, Srikandi saw people evacuating the bodies of victims lying in the mud. In this act, there was no visible difference between those who survived and those who died. Watching this, Srikandi was suddenly literally overcome by silence – she did not hear anything. This experience came back when a massive earthquake hit Yogyakarta. At that time, she saw the victims with her own eyes: bodies covered in dust lying in amidst the ruins. She felt the silence again. To her it felt like being in a dead city. This poem is a testimony of an experience of a crisis. The artist feels that in the collective memory of Yogyakarta, crises like these cannot be omitted. We should be aware that bodies and cities can die at any moment.
Exhibitions
