Yogya is "Java's arts hub".

We enjoyed this aspect of life while we lived here, and several little trips were to art spaces, but there seems to have been even more of a flowering of late.

In our first "little trip" for 11 months, we headed for some exhibitions.



At Langgeng, which is a lovely exhibition space, there were three floors of art. "At the Still Point" featured work by Jumaldi Alfi, Ahmad Zakii Anwar, Jalaini Abu Hassan, and Agus Suwage. It was the second of these who most caught my attention, firstly with a swampy series of ponds and bodies, and then with a looming, sinister series entitled "Untrue Romance". The latter showed four situations, all pregnant with a sense of threat and unequal power.





Kemalezedine and Gede Mahendra Yasa had complicated things to say about Bali, which I won't mangle by attempting to reproduce.





At UMY's Sportorium, we saw "Run: Embracing Diversity".



A colossal exhibition, as this review notes. Nasirun prolifically turns scooters and cars and enormous teak tables into massive scenarios featuring dragons and tigers and Chinese battlements.

To one side is a collection of painted chairs and soldiers' helmets, surrounded by petals of remembrance. On the stage is a fractured globe and a set of tiles depicting "the wounded forest". In the centre is a Borobodur-like construction of painted Buddha-boxes.

It was all very accessible. I love the message of diversity. And I marvel at the eye of the artist that can conceive such things.