the warrior woman

srikandi, 1993

1a) Srikandi is a painting painted by Lucia Hartini. It depicts Lucia Hartini herself as Srikandi and there are many aspects of contrasts in the painting. 

Lucia Hartini used the space in this painting well; every inch of the canvas is covered with paint. the subject matter is magnified in the foreground. Behind her, is a maze-like structure that becomes smaller when it extends to the top of the canvas, leading our eyes down the paining, creating depth. Clouds were also used to create depth. By creating contrast in the size of the subject matter and background, and specific positioning of the subject matter, Lucia Hartini was able to create a sense of depth in the painting. Furthermore, the golden ratio is used in this painting to make this painting pleasant to see. The subject matter, Srikandi, occupies around 2/3 of the painting. By doing so, she seems to imply that the subject matter, Srikandi is of great importance. The strong winding walls consist of 2 planes, one straight and one zigzagged. They are placed side by side taking up majority of the background. this can probably mean that though Lucia Haritini appears calm on the outside, which is represented by the smooth straight wall, inside her, she is confused, frightened, uneasy which is represented by the zigzag walls. The remaining portion of the background depicts a scene of a sky, and the sizes of the clouds vary, with big clouds nearer to us and small clouds further away from us. Yet again, a sense of depth and is created, making the vast sky appear endless.  

She used vibrant contrasting colours to paint this painting and her colour palate consists of mainly blue and vermillion, which are contrasting colours. the golden brown Srikandi is draped in a bright blue flowy cloth, which also drapes around the vermillion winding walls. The background is of a mixed of a morning scene and a night scene, whereby part of the sky is painted a blue grey colour, while the other part is painted a orangey-yellow colour. by using bright contrasting subjects in the painting, she has created a stark contrast between the subject matter and the background. The strong colours may be representative of the strong character Srikandi possess, complementing her spirit and body posture. Further contrast is also present as blue is a cool colour, while vermillion is a warm colour.  Blue, which is usually associated with cool, calm emotions mixed with bright vermillion, which usually represents anger, agitated feeling produces a mixed emotion in the viewer.  One does not feel very comfortable looking at the painting as they the colours are highly contrasting and they are mixed emotions painted in ‘Srikandi”.

Lucia Hartini uses the super surrealist style to paint her painting. It is painted realistically, with highly academic accuracy using traditional painting techniques. Her brushstrokes cannot be seen and her painting is meticulous and detailed. Lucia Hartini keeps the drapery soft by giving the cloth curved edges while emphasizing the contrasts between the shadows of the cloth. She then used hard edges for the brick wall and the cracks in the wall and creates contrast using her brushworks as well. Lucia Hartini sculpts herself as a fit and strong woman, smoothing out her brushstrokes while emphasizing the highlights and shadows of her muscles and veins.

b)  At that time, women were under strict traditional culture expectations, which they obediently and patiently placed themselves victims of sexism. Also, the gap between the number of male and female contemporary artists is very wide. In the late 1970s till 1993, Lucia Hartini depicted a sense of terror as she struggled to be herself. As quoted from her, “It tells my obsession with eyes, especially human (spying) eyes, which frighten me very much. They follow me wherever I go and they always want to watch my business. This is because female artists like herself are being looked down at. Female artists have little or no say in the realm of arts and are often scrutinised. Majority of the women succumb to the strict cultural expectations and turned into the housewife that they are expected to be. This influenced the ray of eyes that is painted in “Srikandi”

However, in 1993, Lucia Hartini started to depict authoritative, challenging and strong women. In “Srikandi”, she projects the daring, strong and powerful character of Srikandi, a courageous female knight character of the Javanese shadow theatre, dressed in blue cloth worn by members of the women’s armies who historically protected the sultans of feudal central Java as herself. The figure clenches her fists with muscled hands, her head up, with wide open staring eyes, constituting a strong, challenging gesture against the spying eyes before her, stridently repelling the critical and doubting eyes of society, which has formerly rendered many women prisoners of tradition. She concluded that women should represent themselves as autonomous subjects having potential which is different but no less capable than that of their male counterparts in this shared her. Hence, the depiction of herself as Srikandi shows the determination and the courage to stand up against the public (spying eyes), fighting for her own rights, as well as women’s rights.

Also, due to her longing for a free and peaceful natural environment, after being trapped in the cultural world in Java, Lucia Hartini likes depicting her imaginings of natural elements such as in the painting “Srikandi” ---- clouds and moon. There is also repeated lines on the drapery and the wall. In repeatedly putting fine lines on canvas, Lucia Hartini lets herself be carried away by a personal rhythm, a kind of meditation. Her repeating of lines is like a reciting mantra over and over again, and also by doing so, one can go into a micrio-cosmos or transcendental experience where the gap between the real and unreal becomes blurred. The colours Lucia Hartini used are influenced by her mood, for example orangery red may represent anger. This is a kind of psychological catharsis to release stress and boredom as well as fulfilling her aesthetic needs.

The hard, edgy brick walls may be influenced by the public and represents the strict cultural expectations society has on her, which may be overpowering her as it seems like a maze which she could easily get trapped in. However, by depicting the cloth covering parts of the wall may represent how she is overcoming this obstacle, and that women are slowly gaining their rights in modern Java.