Sama-sama/Together was an international cultural exchange and residency project between Clarion Alley Mural Project (CAMP) of San Francisco and Apotik Komik of Yogyakarta, Indonesia initiated and curated by artist, writer, and CAMP co-director Megan Wilson. The project was co-organized by Wilson, writer Ade Tanesia of Yogakarta Indonesia and Kevin Chen, program director of visual arts for Intersection for the Arts.

Cover for book Sama-Sama/Together, published by Jam Karet Press, 2006

In the summer of 2001, I traveled to Indonesia to learn about the country's contemporary arts scene. I was curious to find alternative art communities and learn how national and international politics and global consumer culture had affected the region.

Indonesia was particularly appealing for this reason. I couldn’t recall having ever heard anything about the country’s contemporary art scene. I also knew that the political climate had been incredibly tense over the past several years with the forced resignation of Mohamed Soeharto in 1998. In addition, Bali is one of the most popular tourist destinations in the world, making it fertile ground for seeing the effects of global consumerism on a third-world nation.

While primarily unknown to the art world here in the U.S., I did find a thriving contemporary, alternative arts community in Yogyakarta on the island of Java. I visited the Cemeti Foundation and Gallery and was struck by how similar the art in Yogyakarta was to work being created in San Francisco, yet with a clear identity of its own. I was also introduced to Apotik Komik, an artists' collective that had begun creating public artworks in 1992, working much like artists from the Clarion Alley Mural Project (CAMP). Through the relationships that ensued, I knew that I had found a community of artists who could provide great inspiration to the arts (and greater) community in the Bay Area, and in particular artists from CAMP - and vise versa. I returned in August of 2001. One month later, life changed dramatically for everyone throughout the world. The 9/11 tragedy and the repercussions that have followed, including the bombing on Bali in October 2002, have made it even more critical for understanding and dialogue between Muslim and non-Muslim countries. Sama-sama/Together, in part, grew out of the recognition for this need and the possibility to provide a creative response to the divides that have deepened as a result of recent world events.

Sama-Sama/Together Yogyakarta: In July 2003, six artists in conjunction with CAMP  (Carolyn Castaño, Carolyn Ryder Cooley, Alicia McCarthy, Aaron Noble, Andrew J. Schoultz, and Megan Wilson) traveled to Yogyakarta, Indonesia to work with artists from the collective Apotik Komik (Samuel Indratama, Arie Dyanto, Nano Warsono, and Arya Panjalu). Over five and a half weeks, the San Francisco artists met several dozen members of the arts and greater community in Yogyakarta and painted large-scale murals throughout the city, had lunch with the Yogyakarta mayor and his staff, and cultivated relationships with the artists from Apotik Komik that became the heart of the project.

Alicia McCarthy:

Andrew Schoultz collaborated with Nano Warsono and painted a 100 ft. long wall in the Imaga neighborhood, located on the North West edge of Yogya. Carolyn Ryder Cooley worked with Arya Panjalu and painted an electrical box located in the center island of an intersection near the Kridosono Stadium. Aaron Noble worked with Arie Dyanto and painted on the façade of the Permata Theater at the intersection of Jl. Sultan Agung and Jl. Gajah Mada. Alicia McCarthy collaborated with Codit and Farhansiki on a large wall next to the train tracks near Jl. Malioboro. Megan Wilson and Carolyn Castaño both painted on different sections of the wall on the outside of the Purawisata complex on Jl. Ireda. Megan worked with Farhansiki. Carolyn worked with Rohman.

Carolyn Castaño:

Megan Wilson:

Opening at Via Via Cafe:

Sama-Sama/Together San Francisco: When the San Francisco artists left Yogya at the beginning of August it was still unclear if the Apotik Komik artists would be granted visas. Following three interviews over the course of several months, they had been told to check the embassy’s Website daily to see if their passport numbers were posted. This was an incredibly stressful time for everyone involved in the project – not knowing if we would be able fully share the experience that we had hoped for together. However, after several more weeks of negotiating though new, stricter immigration laws and working with several key individuals in Nancy Pelosi’s office (thank you Harriet Ishimoto!) and the US embassy in Jakarta (thank you Riley Sever!) the Apotik Komik artists were granted their visas and arrived, exhausted but ecstatic, at SFO International Airport on September 2, 2003.

Benefit for Sama-Sama/Together at the Elbo Room with Aisler Set & Hello Noisy:

Asian Art Museum Residency:

Similar to Apotik Komik’s preparation in Yogya, CAMP and the San Francisco artists worked to deepen community relationships with selected sites and secure wall space for Apotik to create murals in San Francisco. These spaces included Southern Exposure Gallery at 17th and Alabama Streets, Le Beau Nob Hill Market at Clay and Leavenworth Streets and Rainbow Grocery at Folsom and Division. Like the San Francisco artists, the design of the murals was left to Apotik Komik. However, unlike the San Francisco artists, the Apotik Komik artists chose to collaborate with each other on all of the murals produced. Samuel Indratama and Arie Dyanto collaborated on the fence outside of Southern Exposure. Nano Warsono and Arya Panjalu collaborated on the entire facade of Le Beau Nob Hill Market. All of the artists, including the San Francisco artists contributed to the wall on Rainbow Grocery.

LeBeau Nob Hill Market - Nano Warsono & Arya Panjalu:

Events at Intersection for the Arts:

Prior to my trip, I was able to find a great deal of information about Indonesia's traditional arts (shadow puppets, Ramayana ballet, and gamelan), yet discovered very little about the work being created now. Through my observations while traveling, I began to understand more clearly some of the reasons behind the lack of visibility for contemporary Indonesian art in the U.S. Tourism accounts for 1/3 of Indonesia's economy. The effect is striking - shop after shop filled with traditional hand-crafted works that once held cultural significance beyond a price tag and temples littered with candy wrappers and cigarettes. The foreign impact has also not been lost on the nation's cultural image. Tourist demands and currency for traditional arts such as the gamelan, batik, and Legong dance have helped to create an artistically stagnant identity for Indonesia.

In selecting the artists from San Francisco, I was primarily interested in curating a group who worked with similar aesthetics and methodologies as Apotik Komik - producing work from a "do it yourself" approach, influenced by comics and imagery in the public sphere such as advertising, design, and graffiti, and who strongly hold community as a virtue. However, I was also interested in representing a broad range of visual styles within this slant. I believe the artists chosen (Aaron Noble, Alicia McCarthy, Ryder Cooley, Andrew Schoultz, Carolyn Castaño, and myself) reflect this vision.

I invited Intersection for the Arts to be a partner on the project based on Intersection's long history of presenting programming that approaches art and culture as a complex, multi-layered relationship that is constantly changing and evolving -- and for providing a platform for exploring this relationship through many different forms of dialogue and critique. Thank god they said "Yes" because Sama-sama/Together could not have been a reality without them. Intersection has been an amazing support for the project, and in particular Kevin Chen has been both my partner in organizing and administrating the project and an amazing visionary to help shape and see the project through. In addition, Sama-sama/Together could not have happened without the hard work of Apotik Komik in Yogyakarta, and especially Ade Tanesia, who has been the organizing and administrative backbone in Indonesia and also our partner in bringing the project to fruition.

Aaron Noble:

The process for the design and creation of the murals was left up to each of the artists. However, Apotik Komik paired all of the San Francisco artists with an Indonesian artist to work with as an assistant or as a collaborator for the duration of the project. Apotik also arranged for the permission of the sites prior to the SF artists’ arrival. The sites were then visited by all of the artists and selected based on individual interests.

Andrew Schoultz:

Ryder Cooley:

Lunch with Yogyakarta Mayor Herry Zudianto and his staff:

In addition to the murals, Apotik Komik arranged for an evening of video works by San Francisco artists Bill Daniels, TWCDC (Together We Can Defeat Capitalism), Vanessa Renwick, and Lisa Swenson/ Megan Wilson/ Gordon Winiemko presented at LIP (the French Cultural Center in Yogya), and exhibition of the San Francisco artists’ works (also at LIP), and an exhibition at Via Via Café.

Apotik Komik Arriving in San Francisco:

Following the arrival of Apotik Komik in San Francisco, all of the project artists collaborated on an exhibition at Intersection for the Arts that opened on September 10th and was up through October 25th. Intersection also hosted events at the gallery every Saturday afternoon throughout the exhibition; these included an artists’ talk by Apotik Komik, a talk by Professor Jeff Hadler from UC Berkeley on contemporary Indonesian art from a historical context, a video screening, and an artists’ talk by the San Francisco artists.

Installation Intersection for the Arts:

Southern Exposure/Project Artaud Fence - Arie Dyanto & Samuel Indratma:

Rainbow Grocery: Arie Dyanto, Samuel Indratma, Nano Warsono, Arya Panjalu, Ryder Cooley, Alicia McCarthy, Andrew Schoultz:

The San Francisco and Indonesian artists worked within similar aesthetics and methodologies – producing work influenced by comics and imagery found in the public sphere such as graffiti, advertising, and design with an indefatigable, resourceful, and community oriented approach. Using materials such as wooden pallets, cardboard, and house paint often reclaimed for artistic purposes, all of the artists manifest the inherent potential of these commonplace objects with a distinct handmade approach. Both groups of artists also inhabit the periphery of our modern capitalist world, using a sensibility informed both by social activism, environmentalism and a number of different cultural tools to open, educate, and transform the communities they live in.