INDONESIA: Journalist exhibits paintings of leaves

The Jakarta Post
By Indra Harsaputra


Surabaya--- A journalist can express his life experiences not only through writing but also painting and that is exactly what senior journalist Mochammad Anis is doing, using leaves as the main theme.

Anis, who is now serving as the executive editor of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's Web site www.presidentsby.info, will hold a solo exhibition at the Red and White Room of Balai Pemuda on Jl. Gubernur Suryo, Surabaya, featuring 35 paintings.

"I have tried to express many of my experiences in life in my paintings, but I don't want to philosophize too much about these works," Anis told The Jakarta Post.

The exhibition will run from Aug. 3 to 9 and is open from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m.

A number of high-ranking officials, including East Java Governor Imam Utomo, House Speaker Agung Laksono, Social Affairs Minister Bachtiar Chamzah, Communications and Information Minister Mochammad Nuh and presidential spokesperson Andi Mallarangeng, are expected to attend the exhibition's opening ceremony.

Anis, who once worked as a driver in Saudi Arabia, recalled how he finished one of the paintings to be exhibited in the event.

It was It was 10 p.m. on March 25 at a coffee stall somewhere in Tanah Abang, Jakarta. Anis was enjoying a cup of coffee when out of nowhere a member of the Indonesian military came up drunk and hurled abusive words at the stall owner. Anis asked them man to behave. Instead of calming down, he began abusing Anis as well and then attacked him.

"On that very night, after this incident I tried my hands on a painting and after some time the painting was finished," he said.

"I tried not to include my emotion into this particular painting. Instead, I painted a calm, beautiful and gentle leaf. At that moment I enjoyed the comfort that life offers me," he said.

Leaves, Anis said, symbolize a life that calls for never-ending admiration. Without leaves, there are no flowers.

Not all leaves are green. For Anis, leaves can be in any color -- red, yellow, blue, violet, orange, black and so forth. Neither must leaves always have fronds or stems or be like fingers in shape.

"What matters is the leaves that I have painted must be nice to look at. Anybody looking at the paintings is free to make their own interpretation and capture the philosophical message of these leaves," he said.

Anis is not an artist by profession. In fact, he is better known as an investigative journalist. While still working for The Surabaya Post, for example, he was awarded with a Prapanca -- a citation from the Indonesian Association of Journalists for the best journalistic work in East Java -- three times.

"I'm self-taught in painting. I just wanted to express my imagination while exchanging ideas after devoting many years to the journalistic world," he said.

Born in Solo, Central Java in 1954, Anis has moved from one media publication to another. After the banning of the DeTIK tabloid by the New Order government in 1993, Anis worked for Target, Adil and Detak Jakarta. Once he also made a six-month journalistic journey while making the haj overland in 1991. He also covered the Gulf War in 1991 following Iraq's annexation of Kuwait.

For over a year now, he has had an office at Bina Graha, Jakarta where he edits stories for www.presidentsby.com.

Aside from painting pictures, Anis also writes poetry. After dropping out of Padjadjaran University in Bandung and the Teachers' Training Institute in Surabaya, he wrote poems, some of which have been published in Horison literary magazine. He has also published two collections of poems, Sekarang Ada Senggang Panjang Bersatu dalam Petualanganku in 1976 and Surabaya dalam Darahku in 1981.

In 2003 he held an exhibition of his paintings titled Daun-Daun (Leaves) and two years later he held another show, this time titled Daun dan Daun-Daun (Leaf and Leaves).

"As long as I live I will continue painting leaves, whether or not I will jump up doing it," he said.