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Posted On: August 17th 2026, 06:01 am
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What does it mean to be independent?
Perhaps it means having the right to define ourselves, to choose our own path, and to no longer be defined by others—to no longer exist merely as a background, a specimen, or an object of observation, without a voice of our own.
The Mona Lisa from Java is a reappropriation of a photograph of a young woman in Java, taken around 1897 and held in the collection of Leiden University. In the archive, she is titled Prostituee op Java—“Prostitute in Java.”
With the sovereignty of a free nation, I choose to refuse that title as the only way she can be remembered.
Through my tapestry, I choose to see her differently: as a muse, as a presence, as a human being worthy of being looked at beyond the category assigned to her.
The weaving took hundreds of hours.
And perhaps that is how I wanted to say it: that she was worthy of my time, my attention, my care.
On this Independence Day of Indonesia, I think about the freedom to name, to remember, and to reclaim the gaze.
Rest in peace, my sister. 🇮🇩 Dirgahayu my Country #naming
Perhaps it means having the right to define ourselves, to choose our own path, and to no longer be defined by others—to no longer exist merely as a background, a specimen, or an object of observation, without a voice of our own.
The Mona Lisa from Java is a reappropriation of a photograph of a young woman in Java, taken around 1897 and held in the collection of Leiden University. In the archive, she is titled Prostituee op Java—“Prostitute in Java.”
With the sovereignty of a free nation, I choose to refuse that title as the only way she can be remembered.
Through my tapestry, I choose to see her differently: as a muse, as a presence, as a human being worthy of being looked at beyond the category assigned to her.
The weaving took hundreds of hours.
And perhaps that is how I wanted to say it: that she was worthy of my time, my attention, my care.
On this Independence Day of Indonesia, I think about the freedom to name, to remember, and to reclaim the gaze.
Rest in peace, my sister. 🇮🇩 Dirgahayu my Country #naming
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