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Closure of National Gallery exhibition sparks censorship concerns – Society

Closure of National Gallery exhibition sparks censorship concerns – Society

The abrupt closure of an art exhibition at Jakarta’s National Gallery exploring themes related to former President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo has raised concerns about the direction of freedom of expression in the country.

The exhibition of Yogyakarta-based artist Yos Suprapto’s work, titled “Awakening: Land for Food Sovereignty,” went viral after being unexpectedly canceled on its opening day Thursday.

Yos said in a statement that the gallery initially asked him to exclude from the exhibition five paintings “relating to a character who was once very popular among the Indonesian public.”

One of the five paintings depicted a farmer feeding rice by hand to a man in street clothes in front of the red shadow of a dog, and another depicted a naked man and woman having sex surrounded by rats in front of a Garuda palace-shaped building in Nusantara.

Yos initially rejected the gallery’s request, saying the paintings were essential to the exhibition’s narrative. Hours before the exhibition opened, Yos agreed to cover two of the five paintings with black cloth, but insisted that he would prefer to pack up his paintings and return to Yogyakarta if he was forced to dismantle all three other tables.

The gallery ultimately canceled the exhibition without notification, locked the exhibition hall and turned off its lights, even though visitors were already lining up outside, according to Yos.

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The shutdown sparked public condemnation, with activists drawing parallels to the authoritarian censorship of the New Order era.