Practice Question: Subject Matter (1)

1. Descibe the subject matter of Cindermata Ala Indonesia (Souvenir from Indoneisa) 1996 by Agus Suwage

Best Answer 1:

In Cinderamata Ala Indonesia (Souvenir from Indonesia) by Agus Suwage, there are 6 different expression of a man’s face, presumably the artists, presented as a post card souvenir.  The pictures are in black and white, in reverse colour like an x-ray and organized in a grid 3 down x 2 across.  Each expression is spaced evenly, and in each, the man’s face is perfectly centred. 
The first photo (top left) shows the man in deep though with his head leaning on his fist, reminiscent of ‘The Thinker’.  Draw on top of his face in brown is the outline of a monkey, eyes staring out at the viewer. This suggests he may be remembering a monkey he saw during his travels. In the next photo, the man is covering his face with his hands.  On top of his fingers covering his knuckles is a strip of green paint. Perhaps he had his knuckles bound with cloth or rapped for some crime he had committed while visiting.  The third photo (middle left) shows the man in an expression of anguish, his head tilted back and his mouth contorted as if he is grimacing or screaming.   He has drawn 5 red short red lines which look like thorns piercing his skin.  This could be in response to a spiritual celebration he saw or took part in where men pierce themselves for purification. In the fourth picture, the man again head is titled, this time leaning left.  His eyes seem to be bugging out and his tongue is hanging out of his mouth.  The artist has coloured yellow and red streaks all around the crown of the head resembling fire. There is also a small silhouette of an insignia placed on the forehead of the man. Perhaps in this picture, the man is remembering the spicy hot food of Indonesia and how so good, but so painful it is to eat.  In the fifth picture (bottom left) the man faces away from the viewer, showing the back of his head.  This contrasts to all the over photos which are of the man’s face.  The artist has drawn horizontal lines across the back of his head and 4 vertical lines shooting up in a light brown colour.  He has also drawn the outline of pointed ears, reminiscent of a shadow puppet demon’s ear.  There is a red square placed directly in the middle of the man’s head, perhaps to suggest a theatre space.  In the last picture, the man’s face shows an expression of delight as he is smiling.  The artist has placed a blue butterfly on top of his mouth, as if the butterfly is kissing him, representing the butterflies that he saw in Indonesia.  Or perhaps the butterfly is all the lovely good things he saw in Indonesia, that were so vibrant and alive and now are gone, like the butterflies who are only around for a short time and too soon become only memories.

Best Answer 2:

The subject matter of Cinderamata Ala Indonesia (Souvenir from Indonesia) by Agus Suwage deals with a man’s experiences while visiting in Indonesia.  It is presented as 6 images of, probably, the artist, in a grid format.  The man is posed in different positions in each image with different added elements to each.  The first image (top left) portrays him in a pondering mood with an outline of a monkey drawn over top. Similar editing was done for each of the six images.  The one that seems to stand out the most to me is the image on the bottom right.  It is of an extremely queer image of the man with a butterfly on his mouth, even covering up his nostrils.  The man’s expression is of supplication or of almost drugged enjoyment. All six images appear to give a rather frightening impression.  The reverse portrait (x-ray) effect over a black background further amplifies the scary effect.  The use of negative space is obvious especially in the fourth photo (middle right) where the artist used red and yellow streaks to create a fire effect on his hair.  The artist is centred in all the photos making him the focal point.  The weird editions imply some form of occult practices.  For example the monkey (top left) resembles a `Monkey God` in some religions, while the funny ears and crown-like attachment (bottom left) resembles a demon- like character.  This artist possibly got into some kind of occult activity while in Indonesia and was very affected it by it, which is why he has created this as some sort of `souvenir` for himself.