Arahmaiani biography of mahatma

Arahmaiani (Indonesia, b. 1961)
Display Case (Etalase), 1994–2007
Display case with photograph, Buddha icon, the Qur’an, Coca-Cola bottle, fan, Patkwa mirror, drum, box of sand, and condoms,
Lent by the artist

Arahmaiani’s work deals with such complex topics as discrimination, intolerance, and violence against women in her native country of Indonesia.

Arahmaiani biography of mahatma gandhi

Since the early 1980’s, Arahmmaiani’s works have generated hostility on the part of Islamic community leaders and political authorities resulting in her short imprisonment in 1983. Her installation, Etalase, brings together disparate symbols of Islam, Western culture, and sexuality. Displayed under glass, the objects seem indistinguishable from a traditional museum vitrine, but stand as quintessential symbols of religion, sex, and capitalism.

During the first showing of Etalase in Jakarta, Indonesia, in 1994, members of a Muslim fundamentalist group were so offended by the juxtaposition of a