Migration of Flora

Spanning paintings, drawings and hand-pigmented buffalo hides, Indonesian-Australian artist Jumaadi uses the tree of life to represent multigenerational cycles of migration, displacement, death and renewal. An expansive entity, it metabolizes death and, in turn, nurtures life.  

Through mythographic storytelling that draws on Indonesia’s Wayang Kulit (shadow puppetry) tradition, this work registers the multigenerational impacts of colonialism. You will see skeletons entwined with the roots of mangrove trees, figures embracing, tiny people dragging enormous birds, beasts and tree stumps, and babies that hang in blue bags from branches, or float in utero fed by disembodied organs.   

In this array of images, Jumaadi evokes Indonesia’s rich history, tracking legacies of violence alongside resistance and regeneration. From Dutch colonial rule to the Japanese occupation during WWII, the subsequent independence struggle, the mass killings in 1965-66, and the independence movements in Timor Leste and West Papua, this diverse archipelago has seen world breaking conflict. This history has left deep scars and unresolved trauma. And yet, within the field of devastation, Jumaadi weaves life, love, and family through the poetic narratives of his work. Using materials and techniques kept alive over centuries, he fosters cultural connections, summons multigenerational memories, and feeds the poetics of the present.