UC Berkeley

This dissertation examines the work of modern and contemporary artists associated with the Minangkabau ethnic group. Today, this group is roughly synonymous with the Indonesian province of West Sumatra. It is also recognized as the world’s largest matrilineal Muslim society. Throughout history because men had no right to immovable property, this contributed to a propensity for outward migration (merantau) and shaped what is imagined as the Minangkabau world (alam Minangkabau). This multi-sited world that is constituted by a homeland and diaspora and is shaped by factors like its members’ association with Minangkabau history, culture, and language rather than fixed geographic boundaries is the focus of this study that spans the late-colonial era (c. 1900) to the present.

My focus is on artists from Minangkabau because they occupy a double place in Indonesian modern and contemporary art historiography. Not only do artists from Minangkabau hold roles as national pioneers who are credited with achieving successes in the name of Indonesia but also, the work of artists from Minangkabau has consistently been recognized because of how it diverges from dominant streams of expression. Until recently, little attention was paid to what might have contributed to such trends. In this dissertation I show that thanks to the commercial success of certain artists from Minangkabau along with the growth of two artist communities that are part of the Minangkabau diaspora in Java, there is now a greater coherence around Minangkabau identity in art. This makes it possible to trace a history of visual expression specific to Minangkabau that demonstrates a unique relationship to nature and ecosystems and is inseparable from Minangkabau customary norms (adat).

This dissertation makes three broad contributions. First, it engages with a history of art making associated with the work of modern and contemporary artists in and from Minangkabau. To date, writing on Indonesian art history has centered on the island of Java. This is because the nation’s preeminent art schools are located there along with the greatest concentration of artists. Second, by focusing on how merantau has shaped the careers of artists associated with Minangkabau and contributed to what I contend is a contemporary Minangkabau art world, it highlights the ways that historical modes of world-making challenge prescriptive constructures like the nation-state and politicized ideas of regional cohesion. Third, through an engagement with adat and alam (nature, universe, and realms of perception), it contributes to scholarship that is focused on decolonizing the Anthropocene by foregrounding local or non-Western bodies of knowledge.