Shadow of Hands, Pray for Peace - Australia 2005

Shadow of Hands - Pray for Peace

Carly Rawson

During the Inspirasi Festival Byron audiences were able to watch and engage in the performance art of Firman Djamil. A special guest to the Shire, Firman travelled from Makassar in South Sulawesi for the event. With strong ties to his Bugis background Firman's art marries traditional and organic forms with more contemporary and at times, political concerns. For the festival he performed Shadow of Hands Pray for Peace at the Arts Factory. The rhythmic beating of drums in the background, the rituals of Firman's ancestors were recalled as he emerged from an apex of white fabric balancing a bowl of fire on his head. Moving into the centre of the space, he lay facing the material, draped into the water to channel energy into the installation before tipping the fire over himself. Dousing the fire by wringing water from the cloth, he returned to the apex and knelt before a woven palm frond, a symbol connecting heaven to earth. Placing a combination of lime, betel nut, sirih leaves and a whole egg in his mouth he slowly salutes the symbol before breaking the egg into his mouth, making a paste and blowing it onto the leaf, so that when removed, the outline remains.

At this point volunteers were called from the audience to come forward - Firman repeated this process spitting the natural paint from his mouth onto the volunteers hands placed on clay eggs, and then on small canvas pieces laid on blocks of wood on the ground, leaving an imprint of a hand on each canvas. Some canvasses left blank, Firman intends to take back to Indonesia where he will collect the hand prints of Indonesian people before installing the works in an exhibition in Jakarta, as a monument to peace and interconnectivity.

Byron Bay 2005