Taring Padi Reader: Tanah Tumpah Darah

Supartono, Alexander; Goddard, Angela; Seroussi, Benjamin; Laurente, Dewi; Framed, Framer; proppaNOW; Padi, Taring

Abstract

There is no adequate translation in English for the Indonesian tanah tumpah darah, the phrase Taring Padi employ as the title of their exhibition at the Griffith Univeristy Art Museum in Brisbane, Australia. It literally means ‘land of spilled blood’ and is often transliterated into English as ‘Motherland’ or ‘Fatherland’. For Taring Padi, it means: ‘the land where we spill our blood to defend it’. However, ‘blood spilling’ is not the insignia of radical fundamentalism nor does it promote violence. Taring Padi have learned the real meaning of that phrase from their experiences working with peasants and indigenous communities over the past twenty-five years. For example, when working with the peasant community in coastal Kulon Progo, Yogyakarta, in 2009, as part of a campaign against the development of iron sand mining in their villages, they were asked to put the following sentence in their collaborative woodcut poster: Tanah ini nyawa kami, bila mau merebutnya, kami berani mati (This land is our life, if you want to take it, we are ready to die). When they painted a mural in the Batang fisherman community centre in Central Java in 2014 during a battle against the development of a coal power plant, they were asked to write the following: Tanah dan laut, darah daging kami, (kami) jaga sampai mati (The land and the sea is our blood and flesh, we will guard them till we die). The terms ‘life’ and ‘die’, ‘blood and flesh’ express the peasants’ unconditional relation to their ancestral land, the only place they know how to continue their life. In other words, the land is their life. Consequently, taking away this livelihood is a threat to their life. Seen in this light, Tanah Tumpah Darah is an act of resistance that epitomises defending life.

Citation

Supartono, A., Goddard, A., Seroussi, B., Laurente, D., Framed, F., proppaNOW, & Padi, T. (2024). Taring Padi Reader: Tanah Tumpah Darah. . Griffith University Art Museum

• Online Publication Date: Mar 2, 2024
• Publication Date: Mar 2, 2024
• Deposit Date: Apr 18, 2025
• Peer Reviewed: Not Peer Reviewed
• ISBN: 9781922361783
• Keywords: Taring Padi, Art Collective, Indonesia, GUAM, Aborigin, Contemporary Art, Politic
• Public URL: http://researchrepository.napier.ac.uk/Output/4242587
• Publisher URL: https://www.griffith.edu.au/art-museum/whats-on/2024/taring-padi