Instead of writing, Industrial Designer Dwinita Larasati diary is in the form of a comic strip. Her cartoons are currently on display at the National Museum of Ethnology in Leiden.
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Just a piece of paper and a Pilot gel pen is all Dwinita ‘Tita’ Larasati, a guest Civil Engineering faculty researcher, needs to record her daily life in pictures. As a member of the cartoonists’ group’Madjoe! (or ‘Forward’), she exhibited her work
(together with five other young Indonesian cartoonists) last June during Stripdagen Haarlem 2002 (Cartoon Days Haarlem). But because this huge cartoon event last only two days, they decided
to extend their exhibition until the end of October in the National Museum of Ethnology in Leiden. ”We wanted to promote Indonesian cartoons abroad and thought Holland would be a good choice to start because of the hundreds of years of visual and cultural relationship between the two nations,” Larasati says.
Madjoe! is the slogan used during Indonesia’s long fight for independence (from the Dutch), but the young cartoonist have adopted it to symbolize their hope that their work will move forward and be of greater quality, quantity and popularity. The latter hasn’t always been easy, owing to the country’s struggle for independence, and therefore politics has a prominent role in their comicstrips. Additionally, the young Indonesians must
contend with the influx of foreign cartoons, which started in the 1980s and has brought the likes of Superman and Tintin to Indonesia. Larasati’s and her fellow cartoonists’ work is not commercially viable, however, as comic strips in Indonesia are still seen as a cultural product rather than a commercial one.
Bandung
At the TU, Larasati’s research involves sustainable housing in Indonesia. But in addition to her 9-5 research job, in which she investigates the application of housing technology and defines systems and tools for appropriate low-cost housing in Indonesia, she cares for her 2-year old son and still manages to draw every day. ”Preparing the Madjoe! exhibition was a part-time activity,” Larasati says. ”I enjoy being a cartoonist, so I just have to
arrange my time between family, work, study, and fun, which for me is drawing cartoons!”
Larasati met her Madjoe! colleagues ten years ago,while a student at the Institute of Technology in Bandung (200km from Jakarta): ”We know each other quite well and are comfortable working together.” Ever since Indonesia%s economy crashed in 1998 and during the period of reform that has followed, the cartoonists, with their often political cartoons, have gone ‘underground’, in order to remain independent. This means they distribute and publish their own work, which is then sold at kiosks all over
Jakarta, costing about 20 to 50 euro cents for the bound, Xeroxed comic books. ”The cartoons are more of an art form,” Larasati says. ”It’s a protest and an open, explicit form of expression.”She hopes that the Indonesian comic strips will be
re-introduced to the Indonesian people
Next year the Madjoe! exhibition returns to Jakarta, together with some Dutch cartoons about Indonesia. ”We’d like to see the Dutch perspective on Indonesia. What do they say and draw about us?”
Boring
The work of the six Madjoe! members is all very different. ”We have different drawing styles,” Larasati says. ”One is like Kuifje, another has Superman, X-Men style, or, like me, has an
original style. Ever since I was a child I have made visual records. They were sometimes very private drawings, but my mother showed my cartoon diary to family and friends, so it’s no longer very personal!”
Larasati’s favorite cartoonist is Kosasih, an Indonesian who draws wajang stories and legends. And Kuifje. ”Kuifje’s never boring,” she says. ”Kuifje has various backgrounds, meets many
cultures and characters. It’s well drawn, really precise, and has a realistic style.”
Larasati, however, doesn’t much like American comic strips: ”They’re usually so typically USA-like, with fixed definitions of who’s wrong and who’s the hero. Boring, like their typical Hollywood movies, there’s never a surprise.” Larasati does like America’s Calvin and Hobbes series, though, because ”it makes you think.”
Manga
The Madjoe! group is popular in Indonesia, but not as popular as the Japanese action comics. ”There’s this crazy group of comic strip readers in Indonesia and nowadays the Indonesian market is
dominated by the Japanese ‘manga’ comics.
Consequently, to compete with foreign comic strips, Indonesian cartoonists have to have really good story lines and strong characters, which people want to follow and know about.”
Larasati, an industrial designer, sometimes has difficulties understanding the TU civil engineers with whom she works, so she draws to help clarify things for herself. Larasati: ”Conferences, seminars and meetings, these are perfect occasions for me to draw. And I listen better when doodling % just as some
people tap their pens while listening, I make sketches.”
Madjoe! can be seen until October 27th at Leiden’s National Museum of Ethnology in Leiden.
http://komik.scriptmania.com .
Instead of writing, Industrial Designer Dwinita Larasati diary is in the form of a comic strip. Her cartoons are currently on display at the National Museum of Ethnology in Leiden.
Just a piece of paper and a Pilot gel pen is all Dwinita ‘Tita’ Larasati, a guest Civil Engineering faculty researcher, needs to record her daily life in pictures. As a member of the cartoonists’ group’Madjoe! (or ‘Forward’), she exhibited her work
(together with five other young Indonesian cartoonists) last June during Stripdagen Haarlem 2002 (Cartoon Days Haarlem). But because this huge cartoon event last only two days, they decided
to extend their exhibition until the end of October in the National Museum of Ethnology in Leiden. ”We wanted to promote Indonesian cartoons abroad and thought Holland would be a good choice to start because of the hundreds of years of visual and cultural relationship between the two nations,” Larasati says.
Madjoe! is the slogan used during Indonesia’s long fight for independence (from the Dutch), but the young cartoonist have adopted it to symbolize their hope that their work will move forward and be of greater quality, quantity and popularity. The latter hasn’t always been easy, owing to the country’s struggle for independence, and therefore politics has a prominent role in their comicstrips. Additionally, the young Indonesians must
contend with the influx of foreign cartoons, which started in the 1980s and has brought the likes of Superman and Tintin to Indonesia. Larasati’s and her fellow cartoonists’ work is not commercially viable, however, as comic strips in Indonesia are still seen as a cultural product rather than a commercial one.
Bandung
At the TU, Larasati’s research involves sustainable housing in Indonesia. But in addition to her 9-5 research job, in which she investigates the application of housing technology and defines systems and tools for appropriate low-cost housing in Indonesia, she cares for her 2-year old son and still manages to draw every day. ”Preparing the Madjoe! exhibition was a part-time activity,” Larasati says. ”I enjoy being a cartoonist, so I just have to
arrange my time between family, work, study, and fun, which for me is drawing cartoons!”
Larasati met her Madjoe! colleagues ten years ago,while a student at the Institute of Technology in Bandung (200km from Jakarta): ”We know each other quite well and are comfortable working together.” Ever since Indonesia%s economy crashed in 1998 and during the period of reform that has followed, the cartoonists, with their often political cartoons, have gone ‘underground’, in order to remain independent. This means they distribute and publish their own work, which is then sold at kiosks all over
Jakarta, costing about 20 to 50 euro cents for the bound, Xeroxed comic books. ”The cartoons are more of an art form,” Larasati says. ”It’s a protest and an open, explicit form of expression.”She hopes that the Indonesian comic strips will be
re-introduced to the Indonesian people
Next year the Madjoe! exhibition returns to Jakarta, together with some Dutch cartoons about Indonesia. ”We’d like to see the Dutch perspective on Indonesia. What do they say and draw about us?”
Boring
The work of the six Madjoe! members is all very different. ”We have different drawing styles,” Larasati says. ”One is like Kuifje, another has Superman, X-Men style, or, like me, has an
original style. Ever since I was a child I have made visual records. They were sometimes very private drawings, but my mother showed my cartoon diary to family and friends, so it’s no longer very personal!”
Larasati’s favorite cartoonist is Kosasih, an Indonesian who draws wajang stories and legends. And Kuifje. ”Kuifje’s never boring,” she says. ”Kuifje has various backgrounds, meets many
cultures and characters. It’s well drawn, really precise, and has a realistic style.”
Larasati, however, doesn’t much like American comic strips: ”They’re usually so typically USA-like, with fixed definitions of who’s wrong and who’s the hero. Boring, like their typical Hollywood movies, there’s never a surprise.” Larasati does like America’s Calvin and Hobbes series, though, because ”it makes you think.”
Manga
The Madjoe! group is popular in Indonesia, but not as popular as the Japanese action comics. ”There’s this crazy group of comic strip readers in Indonesia and nowadays the Indonesian market is
dominated by the Japanese ‘manga’ comics.
Consequently, to compete with foreign comic strips, Indonesian cartoonists have to have really good story lines and strong characters, which people want to follow and know about.”
Larasati, an industrial designer, sometimes has difficulties understanding the TU civil engineers with whom she works, so she draws to help clarify things for herself. Larasati: ”Conferences, seminars and meetings, these are perfect occasions for me to draw. And I listen better when doodling % just as some
people tap their pens while listening, I make sketches.”
Madjoe! can be seen until October 27th at Leiden’s National Museum of Ethnology in Leiden.
http://komik.scriptmania.com .
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