All Mining Is Dangerous

The Institute of People Oriented Culture Taring Padi (teeth of the rice plant), an Indonesian artists' collective, was formed in Jogjakarta in December 1998, soon after the fall of Suharto's long dictatorship. They collectively created paintings and prints as banners and posters to use them in festive street demonstrations and rallies. With the works dealing with political issues such as the politicians' corruption, environmental destruction, struggle of workers and women, and so on, they keep supporting people of the laborer class. This work focuses on an incident in East Java in 2006 where the mining of natural gas by a large corporation led to the eruption of mud from the sea bed which caused the devastation of the sea and land. Illustrated here are, from the left to right, the rich archaic nature, the destruction of the sea and forest by corporations colluding with politicians, undersea mining, air pollution, and ships for the transportation of liquid gas. The center right is occupied with various types of the locals who were robbed of their livelihoods and rose up together for the resistance. (KR)