Tetun Language

Stencil Art and Graffiti are art-forms highly valued by young people the world over. Youth who often cannot find any other places to have their voices heard express themselves through stencil art and graffiti.

[Note: Click on a photo to get the 'gallery' to pop up then scroll through the gallery using the 'Next' and 'Back' buttons near the top on the sides.]

This Portrait of Melancholy on the wall of a lane way in Suai in 2000 led me to Sergio da Costa and the beginning of a friendship that continues today. This portrait conveys more about the feelings of the young women of Suai at this time than anything else I’ve seen.

I find these informal artistic expressions that change dynamically over time exciting - because they are ephemeral, but also because of the passion that takes a young person into the street to express themselves without thought of financial reward. Sometimes these works reflect resistance or aspects of the underbelly of our neighbourhoods, sometimes it is just an expression of artistic spirit on display or a mark representing an identity in the form of a tag. Which ever it is it makes our lives more interesting.

In the public art in Suai I have found a freedom that is often not evident in work on canvas or paper and I guess you could say the same for Pt Phillip. See video the ‘Art of Healing’(Dur:7 mins) .

Domi & Friend in front of Sergio’s Wall art 2000 & Sergio’s House 2000

Something that is different in Suai, is the habit of artists to not only paint on walls in public places but to paint on the walls of their own homes. I was first was taken by a small boy to Sergio’s home in July 2000, I was surprised to see the outside wall painted with Disney characters alongside a provocative portrait of a woman. I met the little boy when I was photographing art that I later discovered was painted by Sergio. That little boy’s name was Domi and I reckon that is the same Domi who has been painting in the art class in Suai with Pt Phillips art materials.

In Sergio’s bedroom/studio, the walls were covered with his paintings. I guess this is not so surprising when one considers that materials can be expensive and hard to come by - but it also points to the values of the artists’ families. Why not allow our children to decorate our homes with their art? Another important function for this kind of ‘art on the house’ is that strangers are drawn to these homes that are obviously the homes of artists and this frequently leads to assistance, sales, or work in the form of commissions.

Almeida’s House and the painted door.

Sometimes in Suai the graffiti is directed to Australians working there and it gives us insights into our relationship with the young people of Suai where the right to freedom of expression is new and often hard to find.

For insights into freedom of expression under the Indonesian regime see the interview with the lead singer of Galaxy the top Timorese band in the video Hangover. Two of the artists featured in our Art category are prolific art in public places artists too: Sergio da Costa and Almeida.

Which ever way we look at it is part of a public conversation, and you will find more in Graffiti.

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Sara Niner was unrolling the Alola Foundation’s collection of Tais for an exhibition in the new St Kilda Town Hall Gallery. Not many have had the privilege of witnessing the skill and dexterity of these amazing artisans working on the ground in the backstrap looms in East Timor. But, many of those Australians who have, were at the opening of the Exhibition and Forum this weekend. We have seen the beauty and admired the skill but now we were gathering to see a collection from across the country and hear some of the best and most experienced minds apply themselves to questions about the meaning of the tais in Timorese life and what happens when you commercialise a craft grounded in culture and the sacred.

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The Exhibition
Most of us had seen the difference between tais woven with Timorese cotton and dyes and those woven with imported Indonesian cottons, and the difference is marked. The traditional colours speak of the soil, identity and place and the beautiful photographs by Sally Gray in the exhibition gave us some more insight into the process of tie resistance dying used in the making of futus designs. In contrast the Indonesian commercial cottons range from deep brown and red colours to the very bright watermelon pinks and sunflower yellows, greens and oranges.

When you see futus in today’s world, it’s difficult to imagine how complex the process of making is without seeing it. Difficult because it’s complex, but also because the time taken to produce it from growing the cotton to finished product is pretty unimaginable in the West too. But so is it difficult for us to imagine building a home in barefoot with a machete as our only tool. Timorese culture is alive and well and it has survived as a cutting, carving, tying, knotting, dying, and weaving culture using timber, bamboo, leaves, reeds, coconut fibre, palm fronds and grasses. Not only do they not need power drills they don’t even use a hammer and nails in traditional architecture. These people are actually able to live self sustaining lives eating clean food and drinking clean water in a world where it has become more a fantasy than a possibility.

For those who haven’t seen the tais on a loom, the Alola Foundation provided a beautiful hand carved loom with a lovely work in progress attached. On this, one could see the motif on the warp after dying but prior to weaving. There was just 12 centimetres of warp and weft woven together so we could view the completed pattern. Also hanging in the loom were all the variously shaped timbers and sticks used to weave the colours in and out and ram the warp and weft home.

For those of you who are familiar with tye resist dying and futus from your knowledge of Indonesian textiles and others in the Southeast Asian region much of this is not news. What is revealing to all, in an exhibition such as this though, is the variety of weaving patterns and embroidery styles across just the East Timorese side of the island of Timor which is home to 37 language groups. The diversity in styles and patterns comes not only from the traditions of the language groups but also the influences over centuries of travellers, migrants, colonialism and occupation. Of enormous interest to me was the discovery that the futus woven in Covalima, that are so familiar to me, were found by Linda Chalmers (Oxfam) and a collector, to be very unusual in context of all the other language groups of Eastern and Western Timor as well as the Southeast Asian Region.

Makers & Markets

The work of the makers was well represented in half a dozen stalls in a market run by volunteers selling the tais in their traditional form, as well as others cut and sewn into functional products. Products such as bags, purses and footy club scarves we for sale. St Kilda was a hot seller but there were some grim faces when Hawthorn was found to be unavailable until Christmas!

In this little market run by volunteers with for compassion for the producers, the products for the emerging tourism market for East Timor were on display; serving to remind us of the serious business at hand in the forum, of considering questions of trade, tradition and security for the women, who were laboriously producing them to earn livelihoods for themselves and their families.

Saturday afternoon the issues for these women emerged as we heard of a woman with deep bruises on her hips, etched there by overuse of the loom, as she struggled to produce fast enough to keep up with school fees and other needs of a growing family. We heard of young girls who didn’t want to follow the tradition for a range of reasons, one of which was to prevent injury to their backs.

The Panel
The Panel discussion on Saturday afternoon raised dozens of interesting questions about trade, tradition and security. Among them: cotton growing, health and safety, fair trade practices, producer groups, micro-financing, economic and reading literacy, and the need for dialogue between weavers and those trying to assist them as well as many others.

Some interesting models of weaving groups working successfully in Bali and West Timor were put on the table by guest speakers. Joanna Barrkman outlined the success of the Yaneta Yameta (??) group in Boboke in West Timor which makes traditional high quality work and commercial products. In this case weavers gather together in collectives who weave together. The group maintain the quality by providing the collectives with good quality strong cotton grown locally using sustainable practices. This group has been operating successfully for sixteen years bringing a good income to the people involved because it was linked to a gallery and a market. The other model mentioned is the ‘Threads of Life’ a group based in Ubud in Bali who are successful. Threads of Life was founded by Jean and William Ingram, Pung and Lolet in 1998 in response to the Southeast Asian economic crisis. They run tours, curate exhibitions for their own gallery, conserve and run a shop for the weavers’ products. Both of these groups are said to be successful because of the way the links between the primary producers the market and the preservation and of culture had been set up.

Ego Lemos, is the co-author of a resource book for Permaculture Solutions for Sustainable Lifestyles written for the Timorese context and a community development student at Victoria University. Ego outlined his fears about the destructive power of commercialising what is essentially a cultural practice and said that his organisation would encourage farmers and weavers to grow their cotton in a fence line with other vines. In this way they could still grow large scale quantities without creating a monoculture that required pesticides. Balthasar Kehi emphasised the fact that in the past everybody grew cotton and nobody monopolised it and that the knowledge held among the weavers, who are generally illiterate, should be respected because of the wisdom and knowledge they have in their own culture. Ego pointed out the danger of using chemicals in the growing of the cotton is that it was not only dangerous for growers and weavers but could irritate the skin of weavers, handlers and buyers.

The Panel and workshops that followed on Saturday afternoon made suggestions and recommendations and Sara said she was planning to bring together these with the papers given in the morning session as a resource for friends of East Timor and other interested people.

Together the Exhibition and Forum left me with a the profound understanding that textiles are the art form of Southeast Asia and Timor. The work of making the art and conserving the tradition is important but the role of the work as an artform is by no means the highest role it plays, in fact that is a discursive practice of colonialist cultures that probably has both negative and positive effects.

Yesterday’s forum reiterated for me the necessity of protecting the weavers and their work. I came to appreciate the need to encourage weavers and nurture especially skilled and committed weavers, but more importantly I came to appreciate that weaving as a cultural practice is integral to the Timorese meaning of life. In considering the future of the Tais we need to be looking at the history and traditions in the context of the whole island, working to understand the Tais motif and symbolism as well as the Artisan’s histories.

The exhibition will be open until September 30. Monday to Friday 9.00 a.m. to 5.00 p.m. (Trams3,67 or Train to Balaclava Station turn left and walk down Carlisle street to the Town Hall).

Timor Leste is a post conflict country that lived under violence and torture for many years. The violence continued in 2006 in the independence era. The crisis in 2006 may have been influenced by the former regime, under colonization. It is necessary to fully understand the meaning of living in peace in under independence.

The way to lasting peace is for understanding to arise in the heart of every single person in Timor Leste and in the rest of the world. To start lasting peace it needs to arise from the personal, from the family, from groups and everywhere. Once upon a time I said, I want peace; but personally I haven’t peace in my heart and I was poor at practicing it. This means that there is no peace. We cannot make peace in little bits and pieces while asking for peace, it cannot happen, because peace is not miracle that falls from heaven. Neither can it come from our God that we worship day to day.

Youth Peace Camp
Based on the real situation in Timor Leste and in the world, Covalima Youth Centre is cooperating with The Frontiers from South Korea that has been conducting Youth Peace Camps annually since 2005 until now.

It was held this year from 28th July-22nd August. The program schedule was divided into 2 phases. In the first week representatives of each country conducted workshops to set up programs and activities in Kupang, Indonesia before holding Peace camps from 4th-22 August 2008 and organizing peace camps in the districts.

The Covalima Youth Centre delegated 2 participants - Lin and Anito - to become involved as instructors. Anito returned to Suai with 4 instructors: 1 from Germany, 1 from South Korea, 1 from Japan and 1 from Indonesia, while Lin selected to organize a Peace Camp in West Timor, Indonesia.
The Youth Peace Camp in Timor Leste, was conducted in 3 districts: Covalima District, Lospalos District and Oecusse Dsitrict.

Objective of the peace Camp

ÿ To put peace in the heart of young people to understand fully the value of love and peace.
ÿ To know exactly the meaning of peace and love affecting to our daily life.
ÿ For a number of participants to become pioneers of peace.
There were 60 young people participating in the Youth Peace Camp, divided into 2 groups. One group with about 30 participants, involved children 8-12 years old, and the second group, about 30 participants involved young people 14-17 years old.

The Youth Peace Camp also provided activities for the long holiday period the students in Covalima district had at this time.

Activities
1. Training

Training was provided to young people 14-18 years old. The training included such things as: Defining peace & love; the effect of peace versus loss of peace; Lasting peace; ways to practice peace; peace and conflict. This session involved brain storming, group discussion, story telling, rule play, games and singing. Training was conducted every afternoon for 3 hours.

2. Course.
The Camp provided the opportunity to hold an English course for the participants aged 8-12 years old to learn basic English. Most of the topics from the story books were related to peace; such as stories about a good child in the family, that future dreams are permitted, greeting and respect to the elders.

3. Painting

Painting was provided to the children 8-12 years old. This session allowed the kits to paint people or something else they might consider as an expression of love. It might come from father, mother, brother and sister, friends, animals (their chicken, dog, etc).

The next step is for Ergilio to obtain quotes to put more security measures in place and costs of wiring everything up. More news as it comes to hand!

To mark the anniversary our film the Circle of Stones which is a call for justice for the people of East Timor and particularly Suai, will be uploaded to Suai Media Space.

A call for justice the film intercuts the re-enactment of the massacre with the ceremony around the Circle of Stones that grew outside the Church, that marks the place where the bodies of those killed were burned by the militia afterwards.

[Nota: clicar ba pintura bodi atu halo “galleria mosu sai, hotu tiha rolar/dada tama ba galleria usa butan ‘Next” ho ‘Back’ maka besik karuk no kwana nian leten]
[Hatudu hanesan demonstrasaun eslaide/pertunjukan slaid]

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Pintura sira hosi lawarik nurak (foin sae) sira maka Sergio halo (hare pintura aan duuk sira hosi Sergio da Costa 2000)

Ba naton (quandu) Pat Jessen hakara artista sira halo pintura kona ba Juventudu Suai, hau tau matan ba hau nia belun Sergio da Costa husu nia tulun/ajuda.Pintura ho desenhu sira ba tela/kain kampas kiik sira iha leten nee Sergio nian kontribusaun ba Pat Jessen nian projetu. Projetu nee bodik hadiaa fatin ba juventudu sira iha Suai atu tara hamutu ho pintura rihun ida maka juventudu sira hosi Port Phillip no hosi cidade ida iha Japaun naran Obu bodik arte galeria foun iha liras foun ida hosi St Kilda Town Hall (Prefeitura/Gedung Wali Kota Santa Kilda nian).

Imajen sira maka studente Australiana sira pinta tiha ona kona ba sira aan duuk fo contrapontu foin ida kona ba pintura fotografia sira hosi juventudu maka profiliku (menarik perhatian) kona ba websitu social hosi networking (rede de contatos). Pintura hosi ema oin nee loke luan fatin bodik konsepsu identidade maka mais fluida liu tan hosi autu-retratu fotografia nian.

Hau sei hein permissaun hosi professores arte escola nian bodik atu ‘upload’ (lori hatama ba websitu)galeria hosi studente Port Phillip sira nian pintura.

[Nota: Clicar ba retratu/pintura ida bodik atu halo ‘galleria mosu sai, hotu tiha dada teri ba galleria usa butan ‘Next’ ho ‘Back’ maka besik iha leten hosi sorin karuk no kwana.]

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Suai nian Pintura sira iha galleria St Kilda

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Pintura sira hosi Obu, Japaun

Pintura sira hosi studente iha cidade Obu iha Japaun incluir iha eksposisaun tan Port Phillip halo belun malu ho cidade Obu. Hau nian razaun bodik incluir pintura sira nee hosi nasaun tolu hamutu tan ita nian nasaun tolu nee ho sira nian istoria hamutu durante Secunda Guerre Mondial (Funu Raiklaran Dala Rua).

Ba naton (quandu) Sergio rona ami iha cidade, nia mai hasoru ami lori pintura bot tebes ida maka nia halo tihan kona ba uma lulik ida hosi Lautem, Los Palos, iha rai loro saen besik—la faek (nai bei) nian ulun besik. Quandu nia hatudu pintura nee ba Pat, imediatemente Pat horan kontente no husu nia halo pintura ida.
Aumenta tan Butan hosi Bookmark (Marcador de paginas]social.

‘Bush telegraph’ iha Suai sai hanesan mei (sonu) ida. Hau hanoin ami iha Suai loron ida tiha ona ba oras (quandu) Sergio mosu mai iha Centru Communidade. Nia lori pintura bot ida tebes maka nia pinta kona ba uma lulik Lautem (Los Palos) no maka nia halon/espera atu faan. Pintura nee naruk meter ida no luan centi-meter 75. Ami hakara liu kultura tradisional Covalima. Lautem dook liu iha loro sae hosi Timor Loro Sae, iha “lafaek nian ulun besik’ ou iha ita nia ‘nai bei nian ulun besik’. Uma lulik Lautem dadi tiha ona simbolu Arquitetura Tradisional Timor nian no hau hanoin tan nee Sergio pinta uma lulik Lautem. Pintura nee caru liu no difisil liu atu hetan fatin bodik tara nian iha uma laran tan nia bot tebes. Ferik Desleigh Kent hosi Belun Suai, maka mos iha Suai durante nee, hasai tiha ona foto ida kona ba pintura nee no ba pintura seluk sira maka rai iha pinta bot nee nian ohak.

[Nota: Clicar ba retratu ida bodik halo mosu sai “gallery”, hotu tiha dada tetek gallery usa butan ‘Next’ no ‘Back’ besik iha leten karuk no kwana]

Maibe Mana Pat Jessen horan impresaun (rasa kagum) tebes ba Sergio nian pintura sira. Tan nee Pat fo commisaun ba Sergio atu halu pintura ida kona ba ema katuas ida kaer manu aman hanesan mosu sai iha pintura uma lulik Lautem nee nian oin (latar muka).

Mana Pat Jessen (Coordenadora Belun Suai nian hosi Port Phillip), Simao Barreto (Coordenador Belun Suai nian hosi Suai) halo tradusaun bodik Sergio (latar muka/primeiru planu no nian belun)
Mana Pat halo discusaun kona ba nian comisaun no husu Sergio atu bele halo pintura kiik hira kona ba juventudu Suai bodik demonstrasaun ba loron exposisaun iha St Kilda. Mana Pat mos husu ba Sergio atu fo aula balu kona ba arte nian bodik juventudu seluk sira iha Suai.

Kraik nee: Sergio halo pintura kona ba Mana Pat nian comisaun (Retratu maka membru YoMaTre hasai).

Mana Desleigh horan imnpressaun tebes (merasa sangat terkesan) no tan nee fo komisaun ba Sergio atau halo pintura ida ba nia nain duuk. Nia fo ba Sergio retratu hosi ema feto ferik ida ho feto nurak ida maka nia hasai tihan iha Suai Loro durante semana nee.

A maioria hosi arte muru/tembok taka ba muru maka iha mercadu tan iha fatin nee energia hosi cidade Suai mai hamutu sura loron iha semana laran, especialmente ba loron Sabadu. Pintura wain hosi galeria nee Almedia maka pinta. La difisil atu hare Almeida nian influensia no obesesaun maka sai iha nian pintura sira nee. Sei ida teni artista ida naran Melita—Melita ita iha nabe agora?

[Nota: Clicar ba letratu ida ruma nee: letratu sira nee iha ‘gallery’ maka mosu sai nebe ita bele dada sai sira usa butan ‘Next’ ho ‘Back’ iha belan kwana no belan karuk leten].
[Hatudu hanesan exposisaun eslaide]

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Studente sira nee hotu-hotu otas (idade) hosi tinan senulu resin walu too tinan rua nulu resin. Ba oras (quandu)semana sequnda nian atu hotu ona partisipantes sira neon la hakmatek. Sira neon kiki. Nee tan studente sira espera ‘media workshop’ida maka atu involva video camera no editing software. Tan nee semana terseira ami dedika ba animasaun workshop simples. Iha workshop simples nee studente sira hasai letratu hosi malu no hosi sira nian aan rasi hodi usa telefon portavel no camera digital. Hotu tia sira animar letratu sira nee ba musica iha iMovie. Sira nian resultadu maka dadi ba colesaun video komiku sira.

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Ba naton (quandu) Pat Jessen hosi Belun Suai, fo sai lia fuan katak material sira bodik arte rai hela iha Centru Communidade Suai bodik ema nurak (foin sae) sira atu usa, lawarik nain hat responde kedas/imediatemente. Domi, Almeida ho sira nain seluk sira (sira naran hau la hatene). Hau hanoin Domi tan nia mai iha Centru Comunidade sura loron. Domi nian pintura sira maka iha galleria leten nee. Hanesan ita bele hare, pintura sira nee balu copia (tiruan), balu mai hosi nian imaginasaun duuk [Hatudu hanesan demonstrasaun eslaide/pertunjukan slaid]

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Pintura hodi lapis ho lapis sera por/oleh Almeida

Hau hanoin Almeida tan razaun hira nee. Primeira razaun, Alberto hosi ita nian belun sira iha Suai dehan ba hau katak nian sobrino ida ba iha Japaun tiha ona hanesan nuudar artista ida, no nia menan hadiah/premiu. Primeira razaun maka nee. Ba oras ami husu ba Sergio artista sira naran—artista sira maka ho interesa—nia katak ba ami kona ba Almeida. Hotu tiha nia lori ami ba Almeida nian uma. Ami hare Almeida nian uma hafutar nakonu hodi desenu/gambar no pintura/lukisan. Pintura ida maka hanesan tebes pintura ida maka hau hare tiha ona iha Sergio nian toba fatin no estudiu. Hotu tiha, ba oras grupu ida hosi ofisian media nian bodik atu halo istoria ida kona ba Suai hanesan cidade arte ida, sira mos ba hasoru Almeida. Iha leten nee pintura sira maka nia halo iha Centru Comdeunida

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Iha kraik nee koleksaun hosi pintura maka lawarik mane sira (naran la iha) halo.