Jakarta Street Art

Saturday, June 2, 2012

Different and 100% Independent

Different and 100% independent

Berbeda dan Merdeka 100% is a non-violent socio-cultural movement which promotes democracy and tolerance. The movement encourages people to speak out against acts of violence and corruption through murals, graffiti, posters, stickers and various other artistic activities. The group also appears to be against conservative Islam. The "100% independence" part of the slogan comes from the Indonesian nationalist activist and communist leader Tan Malaka who was active in the 1920's and 1940's.

The motto "Berbeda dan Merdeka 100%", as well as other slogans such as the one below ("Indonesia is not religious country. Indonesia is a country of diversity"), appear all over the city.

(Courtesy of http://indonesiastreetartmovement.tumblr.com)

More information about the movement can be found here and here.

Public space is not corporate property!!

Blind heart, conscience defunct (Buta hati, nurani mati)

Puppet! Metropolis (background art)

"Good fight comrade" (words on bannner)

selfish skeptical emotion, pollution, poison, noxious (words in the sky)

(These images appear to have a communist flavour - red star wearing comrades fighting against the evils of capitalism - see sign on top of building)

Protect yourself on your journey because Jakarta is less healthy (words in the sky)

Take care on your journey. Greetings to your family. Don't forget to bring back presents (words on red banner)

Indonesia Street Art Unite

(These people, some poor, are surrounded by a sea of money)

Saturday, May 26, 2012

Have the Balls to Save Your Country

A friend of mine found this street art for me. The art has very positive messages and is created by school kids.

Make Jakarta more artistic

ENVIRONMENT

Have the balls to save your country

Recycle your rubbish

Fresh without pollution

Create an environment that is neat and clean

Clean environment, clean heart. Life is also peaceful

Clean it beautiful

Want it pleasant okay...orderly

Fresh/clean in chest (lungs). Unfortunately the messages are not heeded by everyone

EDUCATION

Education...improves generations

Plenty of reading, plenty of knowledge

Study the internet wisely - ethical downloading and ethical uploading

Lots of reading is smart

SAFETY

Wear a helmet. Don't do it because of police but for your safety

Be careful on the road

Preserve the safety of the city so that they (kids) smile

Tuesday, May 1, 2012

Your Voice, Your Weapon

The most captivating side of the street art here in Jakarta comes from a social movement that goes by the name of Citizen Journalism. Also known as participatory journalism and grassroots journalism, Citizen Journalism is proclaimed not only on the underpasses of Jakarta, but also by amateur journalists through online social networking sites and blogs.

Born out of the oppressive Suharto-era and baptised in the 2004 tsunami disaster in Aceh, Citizen Journalism aims to shift control of information from business empires who own the major mass media organisations to more widely distributed networks of independent journalists.

Although this type of undertaking is open to a flood of personal biases and uninformed opinions which lack in-depth analysis, the idea as I see it is a democratisation of the media, a kind of open-source wikinews.

Remind you of something?

Indonesia has been called "one of the world’s worst places for the press to operate in because of alarming rates of repression suffered by journalists" and has a democracy index lower than East Timor’s. I won't go on about it as it has been covered in two interesting articles, here and here.

Much of the street art expresses a sentiment of justice, a discontent with political and celebrity corruption and degeneration. As far as I can tell, the graffiti pieces aim to expose or criticise the unethical affairs of public figures and corporations, as well as give a voice to the young people in Indonesia.