Abdi Alam - A.Sebastian Solo Exhibition

Exhibition Manager
Promotor
Artistic Director

ISA Art & Design is honored to present Abdi Alam pt.1 by a weaver and ethnographer, A. Sebastianus Hartanto. Debuting his studies of forest ruminations as woven Lurik, he recontextualized traditional cloth into sacred guardians of forest throughout Java in response to the climate change that is worsening due to human activities.

ABOUT ARTIST
A. Sebastianus (b.1995) was born and raised by Javanese & Manado-Chinese parents. He grew up during a pivotal cultural change of Westernization and Modernization in Indonesia. Thus, allowing the duality of cultural values to struggle within coexistence, one of which is the value of “Art/Kunst”.

Using experiential ethnography, A.Sebastianus studied weaving as an inquiry to understand and reclaim indigenous values in the midst of the contemporary. In his manifesto, “There is no word for art in Javanese, yet there is Sani (not Seni), which is a practice of search, unknowing and unmaking, a becoming” (2018). Mastering the art of weaving in 2017, A.Sebastianus has a vision to continue this practice, which the final product may not be painting, performance or an exhibition, but rather as an artifact, a ritual or a pilgrimage.

A.Sebastianus recognition includes the William Daley Award for Excellence in Art History and a Craft Field (2017), and the Massachusetts College of Art & Design: Fiber Arts Departmental Honors (2018).