As an artist and freelance photographer, this year I had the opportunity to document a painting collection owned by a collector, together with fellow art workers. The project took three weeks to complete, with working hours from nine in the morning to five in the afternoon each day.
The documentation included front and back views of each painting. Photos of the back were necessary because they often contain the artist’s notes or other important information about the work. After the documentation process, we also carried out cataloging, cleaning, and reorganizing the collection, which was placed in a specially prepared room.
This experience further reinforced my understanding that art is not only about the artist and the artwork, but also about how an artwork is presented, collected, and cared for—all of which happen within an infrastructure involving many people with very different roles.
In this work, I try to present the gestures of the behind-the-scenes workers as well as elements from the backs of the paintings. I do this to represent my experience and understanding of the important role played by workers who are often overlooked, yet always accompany the existence of an artwork. Behind what is visible on the surface, there are always contributions from those working behind it.
For my solo exhibition at Mes 56, I then developed this photo series into a video work. I responded to the gallery walls, which still showed holes and nail marks from the previous exhibition. Usually, arthandlers restore the walls to their original condition by repainting them in the same color used before (for example, white walls are repainted white). I removed the nails and bolts from the walls, filled the holes with putty, and repainted them not in white, but in red. This act of filling and repainting with a different color was meant to show that there is always someone working behind the scenes in every art event. I documented this process in a video and added audio of dates and years, marking 2025 as a year that also signifies my own life—having lived in Yogyakarta for 20 years.
Series of Photograph and single channel video, 2025
