Ahmad Khairudin, Arts for Tambakrejo’s Environmental Conservation

Ahmad Khairudin is convinced that art can save many things from the ruins of destruction and devastation.

KOMPAS/ADITYA PUTRA PERDANA

Ahmad Khairudin

At the end of 2022 Ahmad Khairudin, 37, gathered around 50 artists from several regions to make a moral appeal through various arts for the areas inundated by tidal floods in Kampung Tambakrejo, Tanjungmas subdistrict, North Semarang.

Ahmad, commonly called Adin, is a guest lecturer from the Social Anthropology Study Program in the Faculty of Cultural Sciences, Diponegoro University (Undip), Semarang, between 2019 and 2022. On Wednesday afternoon (21/12/2022) he showed the map of Kampung Tambakrejo, where an art event titled Penta K Labs IV: Malih Dadi Segara-Pantura Lemahe Banjir (The Northern Sea Coast is Turning Into Sea from Flooding) was held on 17-21 December 2022.

The Kampung Tambakrejo map delineates a block of land jutting into the sea. The residents’ homes are represented by brown boxes. A number of small brown boxes are surrounded by a blue color, which means they are besieged by the sea.

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Penta K Labs implies the initials of the five Ks: kamu/kita (you/us), kelas/kampus (class/campus), komunitas (community), kampung (village) and kota (city). The biennial art agenda was initiated by Kolektif Hysteria. Adin and his peers in 2007 set up Kolektif Hysteria. This is a group of young people in Semarang who choose collective activities related to arts in urban society. Adin has since served as director of Kolektif Hysteria.

The year 2022 was the fourth biennial Penta K Labs program. The theme in Javanese Malih Dadi Segara-Pantura Lemahe Banjir means the northern sea coast is turning into the sea from flooding. This is a moral appeal to reject scapegoating global climate change for the coastal damage that affects not only Semarang.

“Many local environmental changes have unknowingly caused environmental destruction, especially in coastal areas. When there was the intention to jointly make improvements many circles, including the government, made the issue of global climate change a scapegoat,” said Adin.

The participants were brought into the community through three channels. Many of them wanted to carry out art activities with their children.

Among the artists assembled by Adin from several parts of Indonesia there were those of Hong Kong, Australian and Mexican origins. The participants stayed with the Tambakrejo people and started producing their work from 9 December 2022.

They worked with the local community to design and be engaged in various art activities. Some created murals on the walls of houses. Others painted on canvases to be displayed on the terraces of the residents’ homes.

Other participants practiced tie-dye making. There were those who fashioned performing arts together with the local residents. Kolektif Hysteria succeeded in integrating artists as participants along with the fishermen of Tambakrejo to display different artistic expressions.

“The participants were brought into the community through three channels. Many of them wanted to carry out art activities with their children,” said Adin.

The three channels were first social organizations from neighborhood units (RT), community units (RW), youth organizations to schools and nongovernmental institutions. Second, participants were designated on the basis of the social and environmental issues of Tambakrejo. Third, they were assigned according to locations and forms of work, such as paintings and murals.

KOMPAS/KARINA ISNA IRAWAN

Ahmad Khairudin

Critical situation

One of the murals created depicted the critical situation of the sinking land of Tambakrejo. The mural of a pair of hands trying to reach something above was painted on the wall of a two-story house that happened to be encircled by sea water.

“The house is no longer occupied. The hands indicate a helpless situation. The person was drowning,” said Adin.

About 10 other residents’ houses were functional and served as a mural for the participants. Abrasion and land subsidence caused the houses and gardens of Tambakrejo residents to sink. “Abrasion and land subsidence can be traced to the impact of human negligence. There were local changes resulting from human deeds. It wasn’t a global phenomenon due to climate change,” Adin pointed out.

The house is no longer occupied. The hands indicate a helpless situation. The person was drowning.

Tambakrejo represents the areas of northern coastal communities of Java. The coastal zones should have green belts in the form of mangrove vegetation. However, since several decades ago, mangrove felling has been widespread for the opening of fishponds that are now abandoned.

Abrasion is further causing land to sink. “Meanwhile, the narration prepared by various interested parties, including the government, is that the destruction has been the impact of global climate change,” said Adin, also chairman of the Central Java Creative Economy Committee (2019-2024).

Adin does not see significant improvements. The condition is just the reverse, with the environment getting worse. He notices an even faster growth of industrialization in Central Java and this will aggravate environmental damage.

Support

Along with the Penta K Labs IV participants in Tambakrejo, Adin demonstrated art forms that support the survival of humans. “In relation to Tambakrejo, there is the East Flood Canal normalization plan that will get rid of the coastal kampung. It is narrated as being meant for the quality improvement of the environment, while in fact it serves the interests of container warehouses and toll road investments,” said Adin.

Kolektif Hysteria through its art agenda expresses concern over the survival of evicted people. Its members identify a host of problems in plain sight.

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At first, the collective art activities viewed the problem of tidal floods or sea water inundation in Tambakrejo. Many people moved to temporary dwelling places provided by the government, yet they were bound by contract lasting for only five years.

In the following years the fate of people losing their homes and land due to tidal floods is unclear. The land originally owned by residents finally has turned into sea. As it became part of the sea, it was claimed to be state-owned. There was the Tambakrejo reclamation plan for industrialization.

“Malih Dadi Segara is an appeal through art to reconsider the fate of the coastal people who have been displaced due to abrasion as well as other interests,” said Adin.

Adin is convinced that art can save many things from the ruins of destruction and devastation.

Ahmad Khairudin

Born:Rembang, 7 July 1985

Education:

- Master’s degree in Anthropology, Faculty of Social and Political Sciences, University of Indonesia (2018)

- Bachelor’s degree in Indonesia Literature, Faculty of Cultural Sciences, Diponegoro University (2011)

Occupation:

- Chairman, Central Java Creative Economy Committee (2019-2024)

- Guest Lecturer, Faculty of Cultural Sciences, Diponegoro University (2019-2022)

- Director, CV Sekararum, Semarang (2015-present)

- Director, Kolektif Hysteria (2007-present)

- Semarang Art Council (2012-2016)

- Journalist, Warta Jateng/Tribun Jateng (2012-2013)

This article was translated by Aris Prawira.