Learning from an Art Performance: The Indonesian and Islamic Laws’ Perspectives on Psychodynamics of Fantasy Cannibals

Abstract

An artwork by an Indonesian young artist with a theme of eating human corpse had reaped controversy from various circles. The concept of art displayed by Natasha Gabriella Tontey, the artist-, was endocannibalism, a practice in which people eat the body of a dead person. In her art performance, she presented a dish of foods made from breast milk and baby sweat. To add to her artistic power, she showed processed foods served in the forms of tiny babies, baby brains, and several other horror menus. The artwork done was very controversial, so it is deemed necessary to conduct a review on her artwork from the conventional and Islamic laws’ perspectives. The study is qualitative research employing descriptive analysis. The results indicate that Tontey’s work as outlined in her performance violated both the Indonesian and Islamic laws.