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Maharani Mancanagara
Hikayat Wanatentrem
2018
Mural, sculpture, book, performance and drawing on shaped wood (wall hanging)
Dimensions variable
Susur Leluri
2021
Card game, video projection and mini-newspaper
Dimensions variable
Courtesy of the artist
Maharani Mancanagara unravels the complex cultural and sociopolitical history of her homeland, Indonesia, breathing
new life into stories that fall outside the realm of popular documented history. Told allegorically, the mixed media installation Hikayat Wanatentrem (2018) revolves around an illustrated book that follows the lives of political prisoners deported to the desolate isle of Buru in the 1960s and 1970s. Used as metaphors for the historical narrative, the characters introducing this multidimensional story include a mouse-deer, a sheep, a wolf, pirates and birds.
Susur Leluri (2021) is an interactive installation featuring a card game and video animation, an allegory for the 1965– 1966 genocide in Indonesia. The work tells the tale of Cikal, a mouse- deer looking for answers about an ancestral conflict in his home forest. Visitors are invited to play the game and make choices that move the story towards one of three endings.
