Spirited Heritage

An artwork exhibition by Limkokwing Jakarta Foundation 2009 student.

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SENUA ISLAND

This artwork is about a legend from Riau Archipelago, Sumatera. It's about a poor couple named Mai Lamah and Baitusen. They decided to move to another island which is rich of sea resources, the name of the island is Bunguran. The villager of Bunguran were very welcome to them. Baitusen work as a fisherman, he collects snails and shells, and his wife, Mai Lamah, creates jewelery from those snails and shells.

One day, Baitusen found a place which is filled with lots of teripang, a sea creature which is very expensive. In short time, this couple become rich, and since that Mai Lamah become arrogant. A few month later Mai Lamah pregnant and came the time for her to give birth the baby, but no one want to help her because of her character. Baitusen decided to bring her to another island to get help. Mai Lamah insisted to bring all their wealth, but unfortunately the boat was overweighted and Mai Lamah drowned because she carried all of her jeweleries.

Finally she transformed into an island and the villagers named the island, Senua which means "satu tubuh berbadan dua", and all her belongings become swallows. Now Senua island is famous with its fruitfulness and its swallows.

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PRINCESS MANDALIKA

This artwork is about the sacrifice of Princess Mandalika. A folklore from Lombok. She sacrificed her soul because she didn't want all the princes killing each other for having herself as their wife.

While they were fighting. She ran to the shore of the cliff and jumped into the sea. For she had taken by the sea, all the princes stop fighting and cancelled the war. Strangely the place where she fell was filled with sea worms. Until today, all the people at Lombok believe that Princess Mandalika gives them grace because the sea worms used as Lombok's people food. They celebrate this ceremony annually.

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MANIK ANGKERAN

Manik Angkeran is a famous folklore from Bali. It is a story about a person named Manik Angkeran, who really likes to gamble. He loves to gamble so much until finally he can't pay his debt.

For the first time, his father helped him. The father went to Mount Agung to ask help from the Balinese dragon. And the dragon granted his father wishes by giving so much gold to pay for his son's debt. But not long after Manik paid his debt, he started to gamble and once again caught in debt.

That time, his father refused to help him. Then he decided to go to the dragon by himself. After he found that the Balinese dragon was covered with valuable things, he cut off part of the dragon's body. Therefore he was cursed and turned into dust and get separated and isolated from the main island by the Bali strait.

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JAKA KENDIL

Jaka Kendil is a folklore from Central Java. According to the story, Jaka Kendil was the prince of a far away kingdom, but he’d been cursed and exiled by his uncle as his uncle wanted to take over the kingdom.

One day an old lady found him in the wood and she looked after Jaka Kendil. After he’d grown up, he told his mother, that he must marry one of the king’s daughters. Shortly, he got married with the youngest princess. The princess' sisters mocked at her and Jaka Kendil, because of his ugly face and bad appearance. But the princess still love Jaka Kendil for he was very kind.

At the 40th days of their marriage, there was an agility competition. The youngest princess was very sad because she’s been mocked by her sisters because they saw many handsome princes in that competition and compared them with the uglyness of Jaka Kendil.

The youngest princess ran home very sadly, and at her home, she saw a jar beside her bed. She lifted it up but because she was rushed, the jar fell down and broke into peaces. Suddenly, she heard a voice, “Finally, my curse period is over,” She was very surprised finding that Jaka Kendil had transformed into a very handsome prince.

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GOLOQ STONE

Once upon a time in Nusa Tenggara Barat, there was a small family consists of a workaholic mother and her children. On one day, the mother does her job as usual as a padi pounder. While she was busy with her work, her children were left sitting on a stone. And all of a sudden the stone became taller and keep growing taller. The two children were screaming out loud for help, but the mother didn’t even notice her kids because of her job.

After a while, she realized that her children had lifted into the sky. She prayed to God for some help. And God gave her a powerful strength to break the giant stone into 3 pieces. At the same time as she breaks the stone, her children transformed into a pair of birds and flew away. She cried and regret that she had abandoned her children.

The broken stones later spread into 3 different places, which became important areas in Nusa Tenggara Barat.

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DAYANG KUMUNAH

A folklore from Riau. The story is about a baby girl found by a lone fisherman near the river whose believed to be the river spirit’s daughter. The fisherman brought the baby to the village elder, entrusted to take care of her.

The baby, Dayang Kumunah grew as a very beautiful and diligent girl. However, there was something strange about her. She never laughed. One day a young man proposed her. Dayang Kumunah agreed, but he had to promise one thing, that he never asked her to laugh. Despite this strange condition, he agreed and they got married.

Many years have passed, the husband’s curiosity grew, and he wanted to know badly why his wife won’t smile. One day their youngest child just learned how to walk, the family laughed and cheered. Everyone, but Dayang Kumunah. This time the husband could not hold it anymore.

He broke his promise, he asked his wife to laugh. Dayang Kumunah was so disappointed at her husband, but she finally agreed to her husband’s wish. Dayang Kumunah laughed, when she did, people could see her fish gills. This made her so sad and she ran to the river. Her family chased her, only to see her transformed into a fish and never returned. Meanwhile her husband regretted badly that he broke his promise. He regretted his curiosity for the rest of his life.

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ANAK SIMA

It's a story originated from South Kalimantan. Anak Sima came from "Anak Kapang" (an illegitimate child) that was thrown away to the wood immediately after it's birth. It was crying for days and nearly died until a hungry Takau (the strongest ghost in Kalimantan) heard it's cry and approached it. The Takau want to eat it but when it saw the child's face, it turn into human and decided to take care of it for the baby was very adorable.

For years it was taken care by the Takau and it never grew up, it stay in the form of a baby. The baby always go with the Takau but when it wanted to eat, it hunts alone. It's favourite food is female's heart.

Anak Sima has an ability to attracts people with it's cry. When a person came to it, they will get the urge to pick it up, but it only wanted to be carried on the back and it will eat the person's heart from the back and the corpse will be abandoned in the wood.

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AMBO UPE AND THE MYNA BIRD

This is a story from southern Celebes (Sulawesi). Its about Ambo Upe, a boy who found a wounded baby myna bird. The bird seemed to be attacked by an eagle. He took care and fed the bird until it has fully grown.

One day when Ambo Upe was herding his buffaloes, He fell asleep under a tamarind tree, A snake came and wanted to attack him, the myna bird felt that his master is in a threat and came to help its master by attacking the snake, knowing that his friend had saved him he felt a great gratitude towards the bird.

Then came another day when Ambo Upe was being approached by two thugs. Ambo Upe was tied onto a tree and his buffaloes were taken away. The myna bird couldn’t do anything against those two thugs, so he followed those thugs to their hideout. After he know where the hideout is, he led Ambo Upe’s father to the place where Ambo Upe was tied. After his father freed Ambo Upe, he assembled all of the village members to confront the thugs. After that, they confronted the thugs and get their stolen buffaloes back. The robbery failed, and the thugs hated the myna bird for that.