Bali Echo Magazine Edition 52 | Women Artist Of Bali, Unite!

"The idea was to expose the world to the long understated brilliance of independent women artists resident in Bali. To train. and encourage young Balinese girls with obvious creative gifts. And to provide income for women with talent but neither the time nor facility to market their art". This is the philosophy behind the establishment of Asia's first art gallery which deals exclusively with women artists resident in Bali, whatever their cultural or national background -Seniwati Gallery of Art by Women. "Deals exclusively with women artists" may sound very "political" but what is not political. Now days? The issue of gender is certainly a political issue, especially in the realm of art, long believed to be a purely "beauty is a joy forever"-kind of romanticism. As with other aspects of our daily life, art is also a reality in which the idea of "survival of the fittest" counts.

Selections are made and power is created and kept save from diminishing. "A famous expert on Balinese art told me that there were no women artists in Bali because the Balinese women. have no sense of colour and they don't like to get dirty," British-born founder of the Seniwati Gallery of Art by Women, Mary Northmore, said to me recently at the Gallery. Whoever this

famous "expert" was, he certainly was making choices by making his, biased statement. He makes us wonder whether he had truly lived in Bali or had ever seen any religious festivals here where most of the decorations are made by Balinese women. He certainly never saw a ricefield in Bali where women got dirty planting or harvesting the paddy. Fortunately Ms. Northmore didn't believe him but started searching village after village for women artists. She did find them, and there were many of them, young and old. Being a

Balinese woman,many of these artists are so busy with family and community obligations that it's hard for them to find time to, paint. The "lucky" ones were those who had artist fathers or husbands. By helping their artist fathers or husbands with their work, these women got more opportunities to paint. Encouragement by artist husbands was also important in stimulating the women to keep on painting, as was the case with Dewa Biang Raka, one of Bali's first woman artists. She and her famous late husband were friends of Rudolf Bonnet who together with Walter Spies were responsible for the creation of Bali's modern art. With her husband's encouragement, Dewa Biang Raka was able to make time to, paint, "two hours a day". Another woman was caught by her artist husband "stealing" his materials for she couldn't get it any other way. But this iscovery only made him delighted and he then encouraged her to keep on painting. Ms Northmore however believed that there's no systematic discrimination or disempowerment of women in Bali but only a dif ference in gender roles. The question now however lies precisely in that difference
of roles. Women tend to have more "obligations" to their family and society than men do.Besides being a wife and a mother, a Balinese woman also has to do all the religious and social obligations required of her. And as the case with the artist Cok Mas Astiti clearly shows, only a strong perseverance to continue to paint makes it possible for a Balinese woman artist to find "spare" time to paint. Cok Mas Astiti was born into an aristocratic family and is also a lecturer at Udayana University in
Denpasar. With an extra role as a mother to her five children, she must divide her time between doing all the religious and social cuties her high caste requires of her, her professional obligations, and her own art. Finding time to paint can be hard, but she has always persevered. Different from the male artists, no Balinese woman artist can spend a whole day painting. This is also the reason why Balinese women artists cannot produce as much work as men. When she first arrived in Bali in 1984 Ms Northmore was shocked to discover that women were not represented in most of Ubud's galleries although Ubud is internationally known as the "artist village" of the island. In December 1991, after discovering and making friends with the Balinese women artists, a group of ten women including Ms Northmore established Seniwati Gallery of Art by Women in Ubud. Today Seniwati Gallery represents one mask maker and 43 painters, young and old with styles from classical Balinese "Kamasan"painting to contemporary. One of the younger members of Seniwati is l Gusti Kadek Murniasih, or popularly known as Murni whose story is Cover Story of this edition Echo. The women artists benefited from the existence of Seniwati, some have become their family's main breadwinner and even traveled overseas to exhibit their work. Ms Northmore believes that what women artists of Bali need is inspiration and encouragement to show their work and not hide in the shadows as it was in the past. In 1993 Seniwati set up schoolgirls workshop since "all other children workshops only took boys". There are now forty girls aged from 5 to 15 years old as members of the art workshop. Each child in the workshop is sponsored by a kind person who pays; US$100 per year for tuition and materials costs. The school costs are also supplemented by sales of the children's coloring book and their paintings. Seniwati Gallery of Art by Women is located at Jalan Sriwedari 2b, Banjar Taman, Ubud (Ph: 62-361975485), just off the main jalan Raya Ubud. It also holds courses, workshops, demonstrations, performances, etc, and offers small studio spaces for rent by artists from outside the Ubud area to work in. Text and photos by Saut Situmorang