Resource contributed by: Bodies of Power / Power for Bodies with Mumtaz Khan Chopan

Tom Nicholson, I was born in Indonesia, 2017.

Visit Tom Nicholson’s website for information about the work here: http://tomn.net/projects/2017_03/

““I was born in Indonesia continues Tom Nicholson’s ongoing investigation into monuments, memorials and other collective visual forms. The work attempts to figure the first fragments of a future Australian museum, articulating the narratives of refugees marooned in Indonesia by Australian refugee policies through a field of diorama figures that draws together 18 different diorama scenes. Developing out of a series of research trips to Jakarta over two and a half years, a key reference point for this multi-layered project is the extraordinary cycle of sculptural dioramas at Indonesia’s foundational monument, the Monumen Nasional (Monas). These dioramas visualise the coming-into- being of the Indonesian nation, and were commissioned by President Sukarno from an eminent Indonesian artist, the late Edhi Sunarso, in the period immediately following Indonesian independence. Sunarso travelled throughout the archipelago, visiting significant sites, interviewing participants in Indonesia’s recent history, and making extensive drawings based on these visits and interviews.”

Read a review by researcher Nuraini Juliastuti here: https://garlandmag.com/article/on-history-making/.