Friends of Suai

Connections across the Timor Sea 1941-2010 was an exhibition put together by the Friends of Suai as the first of a range activities planned to celebrate ten years of friendship with Suai. The exhibition was mounted  in partnership with local filmmaker Jen Hughes, artist Liz Milsom photographer Richard Jones and the Suai Youth Centre.

Held from mid-May to mid-June the exhibition included a video installation by Jen Hughes, Watercolours, letters, artefacts by Sgt George Milsom and Photographs by Suai youth.  It was opened by Abel Guterres, Timor-Leste Ambassador to Australia.

Jen Hughes has been following the Friends of Suai friendship and documenting it since December 1999. In her video titled ‘Unforgettable Selections from a Friendship’. Jen took the opportunity to bring some of that experience to the audience and highlight some of the art of Suai youth documented in the streets of Suai, or on canvas, in workshops and on-line using new media tools in suaimediaspace.ning.com. George Milsom is the father of Port Phillip local artist Liz Milsom, who is a member of the Friends of Suai. George Milsom enlisted in the army and became a member of the 2/40th Battalion, that travelled to Kupan in Dutch Timor on the 8th December 1941. He later joined the 2/2nd battalion in East Timor. You can read more about him here. The photographs in the exhibition were taken by Suai youth in a photography workshop with Richard Jones in Suai in 2009 which is documented here.

From Pat Jessen: June 2008

Tais Kamenassa

This time I made the time to go to where the women were weaving their Tais (textiles) in the homes, villages and workshop. There will be a Timor Leste Women’s Weaving Exhibition, Forum and Market in September 2008. We wanted to ensure that women of Covalima had their work on display and on sale at the market at St Kilda Town Hall.

We found the Covalima women weave beautiful & varied pieces across the district and between villages. The traditional futus, (weaving method of dying patterns) that have been handed down by ancestors continue to be woven into the fabric in each village with attention to dyes, colour, cotton & design. As well as the traditional weaving some new Thai looms have been brought to Suai by Timor Aid who are training young women on the new technique.

The Forum in September will discuss old and new methods and markets. We commissioned some new products including scarves and belts which were produced by the women’s weaving group in Suai Loro village in great colours which we think will appeal to the local market in Australia.

For stories and photographs of the exhibition, and Forum as well as an article about the Tais  in the traditional  Culture section of this website Suai Media Space click here.

In 2008 the Friends of Suai partnered with the Alola Foundation the East Timor Womens’ Association and others to organise an extensive exhibition of Timorese woven cloth the Tais. The aim of the exhibition and forum was to extend the knowledge of the people of Port Phillip and other audiences about Timorese culture and to support the women of East Timor. Dr Sara Niner who curated the exhibition has worked extensively with the Alola Foundation and conducted research about the tais in consultation with Timorese weavers and Timorese educator Ms Ofelia Neves Napoleao who has travelled East Timor extensively conducting her own research talking to weavers. More about the Exhibition and Forum as well as an extensive article about the Tais can be seen here in the traditional culture section of this website. or by clicking on the images below.

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31 Julho 2008 Jen posta iha Arte hosi Sergio da Costa, Noticia, Sergio da Costa: Pintura Ho Commentariu Editar

[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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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.]

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.

English Version
6 Agostu 2006 Jen postar iha Arte, Arte hosi Sergio da Costa, Comisaun, Noticias 1 Comentario Editar |

‘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.

English Language
Primeiro Agusto, 2008, Jen Solok ou Posta iha Arte, Pintura hosi Yuventudu Suai, Jornal la iha komentar —Editar
[Hatudu hanesan demonstrasaun/pertunjukan eslaida]

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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.

Tetun version
The ‘bush telegraph’ in Suai works like a dream. I think we had been there a day when Sergio turned up at the Community Centre. He had with him a huge painting of a traditional house of Lautem (Los Palos) that he was hoping to sell. It was over a metre high and about .75 of a metre wide, but that wasn’t the reason none of us bought it. We are more interested in the traditional culture of Cova Lima. Lautem is in the far East of East Timor in the “head of the crocodile” if you like. The traditional house of Lautem has become an international symbol of Traditional Timorese Architecture and I guessed that is why Sergio painted that particular style. The fact that it was so big also made it more expensive and more difficult to find a place for it in ones home. This is a photo of it taken by Desleigh Kent ( from the Friends of Suai), who was there, with some other paintings he brought sitting over the base of it.

[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.]

Pat Jessen was impressed by his work however and commissioned him to do a painting of an old man holding a rooster as it was depicted in the foreground of the Lautem painting.

Pat Jessen (‘Friends of Suai’ Co-ordinator Pt Phillip), Simao Barretto (‘Friends of Suai Co-ordinator’ in Suai) translating for Sergio (foreground and his friend).

Pat is discussing her commission and asking Sergio of he would do some small portraits of Suai youth for an exhibition to be held in St Kilda and run some art classes for other young people in Suai.

Below: Sergio working on Pat’s commission. (Photograph by YoMaTre members)

The finished painting.
Desleigh was impressed and commissioned one for herself. She gave sergio a photograph of an old woman with a young woman she had taken in Suai Loro that week.

Desleigh, Pat and Annie Sloman checking out the finished work.

Tetun Language

[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.]

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Pencil and crayon drawings by Domi.

Domi (foreground) and Almeida (back) with other kids (checking back to get other names)

When Pat Jessen from the Friends of Suai, put out the word there would be art materials available in the Suai Community Centre every afternoon for local youth to use, about four kids responded. Domi, Almeida and a couple of others whose names I didn’t get. I remember Domi because he came every day. That is Domi’s work in the gallery above. As you can see some of it is copy work and some from his imagination.

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Pencil and crayon drawings by Almeida

I remember Almeida for a few reasons. The first reason is that Alberto one of our friends in Suai told us his nephew had been to Japan as an artist and won a prize. The second is that when we asked Sergio for the names of some artists who might be interested he told us about Almeida and took us to his home where we found it covered with his drawings and paintings. With one that was very similar to a picture I had seen in Sergio’s bedroom/studio. Then, when a group of media workshop students decided to do a story about Suai as an art city they also went to see Almeida. Above are the drawings he did at the Community Centre.

Below is a collection of pencil drawings by the unnamed boys.

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Unsigned drawings

[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.]

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Portraits of Youth by Sergio (see ‘Portraits of Youth 2000‘ and ‘Portraits 2000‘)

When Pat Jessen wanted artists to paint portraits of the youth of Suai we turned to my friend Sergio da Costa for help. The paintings and drawings on the small canvasses above are his contributions to her project. The project was to provide some paintings of young people in Suai to hang alongside over one thousand portraits painted by youth in Pt Phillip and Obu Japan for the new art gallery inside the new wing of the St Kilda Town Hall.

The images the Australian students have painted of themselves provide a refreshing counterpoint to photographic portraits of youth that are prolific on social networking websites. These painted portraits open up a space in which the concept of identity is more fluid than within photographic self-portraits.

I am waiting on permission from the schools’ art teachers to upload a gallery of the Pt Phillip students’ work.

[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.]

Suai Portraits in St Kilda gallery

Obu Portraits from Japan

The portraits from students in Obu are included in the exhibition because of Pt Phillip’s sister city relationship with Obu. My reason for including them is of the link between our three countries due to our history in East Timor in World War 2.

When Sergio heard we were in town he came to see us with a huge painting he had made of a traditional Lautem or Los Palos house in the Eastern most part of East Timor – the head of the crocodile. When he showed that to Pat she commissioned a painting.

[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.]

During the hectic time that precedes a trip to Suai I got a phone call from Pat Jessen, (Co-ordinator of the Friends of Suai), to chat about art materials she wanted to take to Suai. She ended up taking some small canvasses, some quality art paper, coloured pencils, charcoal pencils, crayons and oil paints. When she got there Pat enlisted my friend Sergio da Costa to find some artists and these portraits are what they came up with.

All the artists live in the centre of Suai except Atoy who lives in Suai Loro. The first two paintings in the gallery top left are by Atoy. Rumour has it that Atoy studied at Arte Moris (Birth of Art). in Dili for a while. Atoy’s portrait Boy 1 particularly, is embued with the colour and tonal qualities of his environment and I’m sure he has painted his portraits using his friends as live models.

Suai Loro is a lowland area by the beach, about ten to twelve k’s from Suai but the trip is a 40 minute drive from Suai, because the road is deeply deeply rutted and damaged by the hundreds of trips made along it by armoured vehicles in 2000 that left behind potholes that have grown into massive muddy sections of road that remain wet for many days between rains. I first visited Suai Loro at that time with Veronica Pereira. It was devastatingly poor then and still is very poor. The villages are close to the beach overlooking the Timor Sea, near the mangrove swamps , and the houses, built from traditional materials are built high above beautiful deep brown sand, to protect them from flooding.

In Suai Loro people are still living together with houses placed near each other and facing into each other in groups. Simao, the Friends of Suai Chefi told me that the Portuguese introduced straight roads and living alongside roads to East Timor. This kind of change makes a huge social impact but I’m yet to understand what difference it has made in East Timor.

Sergio dashed off his pencil sketch (centre bottom row) in about ten to fifteen minutes while I was watching him when he was first commissioned to do the portraits. Two of the portraits of the young women have been painted from photographs while the first of his in the gallery third from left in the top row above, of the young woman with the blue top, looks a little like his sister Julia, so perhaps Julia modeled for that one. Indrey has sketched they guy who was working as security at the Community Centre and I don’t know who drew the girl on the chair. I will try and find out.

The artists range widely in age. Idrey (I hope I have spelt his name correctly) is about ten or eleven, Sergio and Atoy are both in their twenties.