Hack History
Indonesia is a jumble of dark(ened) histories. Too many events are erased to oblivion in order for different political power forces to reproduce themselves. At KUNCI we have been developing ways to excavate collective memories that are made redundant as to negotiate with the normative orders. Rather than a project of rectifying history, we are more interested in looking at how the current generation articulate history from their everyday context. In the case of Ledhok Timoho, we are curious on the younger generation there creatively produce (historical) narratives of their place in reflection to the disenfrachisement, violence and illegalization engendering the discourse of wasteland.
A team of explorers, namely Antariksa, Fajar, Pipit, Muhammad A.B. and Acong have been working onsite to collect narratives of the place. Charting maps, capturing oral histories and constructing timelines are some of the components of the action research that were conducted collaboratively with a group of teenagers living there. The group of 10-13 young people (depending on their availability) also shared concerns on how to represent the findings that they got. They agree one way to do it is by creating a comic that could speak more to their peers. So we brought in a comic writer to help them in technically and visually developing the narratives. By the time this text is written they are still busy finishing the comic books on the history of Ledhok Timoho.
