Rebel imaginings: street art in Yogyakarta, Indonesia

Abstract

Street art in the Indonesian city of Yogyakarta is popular, dynamic and vibrant. Like other cities such as Buenos Aires, it has become something of a tourist attraction in its own right. This article examines Yogyakarta street art as a visual phenomenon that activates political change potential in three ways. First, it provokes the critical consideration of ordinary people who pass by the walls and surfaces of the city every day. Second, it suggests alternative futures within the context of achieving social justice and redress of past wrongs. Third, it challenges the mainstream elite artworld of Indonesia that is anchored in galleries and commodification. Street artists constitute their grassroots art practice collectively, offline and online. Data was gathered ethnographically over two years. Analysis of data proceeds in the form of rhizoanalysis, in keeping with a non-representational framework drawn from the work of Deleuze and Guattari. The street art of Yogyakarta is considered as an assemblage, one characterised by the creative process of (political) becoming. The street artworks generate meaning through visual juxtapositions, gags and texts that imply lines of flight into a future generated by radical questioning. We argue that Yogyakarta street art can be read as a form of rebel imaginings.