Jalan Kayu: Creative Process of Barata Sena (english text)

by Bulan Sorbadjati

Still fresh in memory of Wednesday evening on December 31st 2008. The rain came hardly, just like it used to at the end of the year. At that day for the first time “Jalan Kayu” has been proclaimed in front of the public as the crown.

            The artwork that became the exhibition mascot tickled a cross of two images at that night. Don’t know how to make the easily and clearly name for those creations because it was not form like handicraft, carved object or statue. Scratches on the plate and big chunks of wood seem reflected the images of wave, ocean or maybe the wave of mind and dream?

            The amazing was a piece of ‘clothes’ that displayed on a high cap stock. The ‘Clothes’ which is fully made of wood. Wood (!) not the bark of tree. Showed something (technically) honest from an artist who doesn’t want to stops explore for the god sake of responsible to the knowledge that he ever studied before.

            Last but not least, a few seconds to the beginning of the launch, appeared the familiar faces, craftsmen of the Barata Sena’s workshop. Fantastic! They were invited to the grand opening event just like the other invitees! For the first time we saw the emotional relationship behind the work relation that supported Barata Sena to invite his

craftsmen to met the public. Not to be ‘shown’ but to watch the exhibition which the result of he and his craftsmen work along together. The craftsmen also had a chat with other viewers, gave valid information about their work process.

            Barata Sena built his process not in a close workshop, but among the open village, Kampung Jajar, Surakarta. In there, the community knows each other well; the neighbors that live closest to his house can observe his creation bustle, moreover say hi to him anytime they want. The workshop placed at the land that have been own for along three generations, that of course full of history of life that (materially) had been pioneered by his grand father, and then (spiritually) is given meaning by his father.

            The environment factor made him possible to train his compassion. At the beginning, the compassion aroused since Barata Sena has to be taking care of his father and mother that being sick for many years until they passed away. By the intercession of the neighbors, relatives, and also friends who are having difficulties that used to come and complain about many things to him, recessive by these and those (hope the financial help from him), the compassion then developed. Indeed, the last message of his father to him was nothing more than a message of compassion, “Be a human that be fond of and happy to grows righteousness, having compassion, and openhanded one day.”

            It shows that the empirical experience build individual character. The compassion character that Barata Sena’s have is not come suddenly, but it was the outcome of the many years train through the concrete reality of ‘accompany’ his father who was sick at that time. Since as a high school student, Barata Sena got use to and trained to accurately paid attention and took care of his father that got hypertension, diabetes mellitus, heart problem, kidney problem, side problem, eyes problem, and ever got stroke. In the range of 20 years, all of those diseases fall in one inside of his father’s body. The result that Barata Sena had from accompanied his father is nothing more than a spiritual transformation, a change within his point of view to human’s physic. This view then influenced his standpoint of wood (physic).

            At 2007, the Barata Sena’s family house field was still being grown with a pair of leafy kersen trees. But at 2008 the tree was being cut in order that there is a place to sunbathe the woods which are not perfectly dry yet. One day, our eyes gazed at three big chunks of burnt woods that were being floundered under those trees. We directly felt that those big chunks of burnt woods will become a beautiful ‘shape’ because of its burnt precisely if its got a ‘smart’ touch.

            We asked Barata Sena where he got those chunks of woods. He told us happily that for a long time those woods were at his friend’s house. Fortunately, the place where the woods stacked was being used by a vagrant for slept. Before he slept, the vagrant used to burn the firewood in order to keep his body warm all night. Unaware by him, the firewood position every night had burnt the outside of the woods. It was burnt deep enough so it seemed like charcoal. This incident happened long enough – until one day Barata Sena found a bad luck on those woods. He decided to take and brought it home soon. He never regretted, protested or wroth it. Through that moment he understood that he was getting a direct object which is not being formed to practice his compassion. Accepting the woods just the way it was.

            Wood is a principal matter for Barata Sena’s creative process. The wood come from the tree and the tree begin from small weak seed. The thin stalk with leaf buds that so cute, slowly, day by day, appear from the ground surface. In the growth period, they are ambushed by the possibility of being stepped on by humans who can pass easily around them or by the animals that running off with their bevy in the forest. Even the small slitter animals or the woodpeckers can make holes on the tree bodies that starting to grow, so it can influence the wood condition and make the wood become curve, fragile, or easy to crack and break.

            The tree gives sort of woods base on the land it grows. The growing land with Gunung Kidul climate gives different woods to the growing land of Solo climate. The inhabitant in each region will get use to with a kind of wood which grows plenty in their region. They will familiar to use that kind of wood to build their house and make furniture. The inhabitant in Cepogo and Selo area at the mount Merapi – Merbabu sphere was covered with the Sengon tree. They are familiar with this tree. There are many real Javanese houses that occupy from generation to generation which made from Sengon tree in there. If among the inhabitant wants their house is made from Kalimantan wood, it is generally because Sengon wood is understood as not a good wood, soft, and cheap one from the outside inhabitant of their area, it is mean that they fail to appreciate what the nature around them have been prepared for their need.

            Partly of many peoples prefer to give label to wood’s physic condition – poor in quality, physical defect, broken, cavity, paltry. Mostly can not be able see the wood just the way it is. Wood which is naturally had been given by its growing land. Wood which as wood. No frill, no attribute. There is no this wood, so not that wood. No Mahoney, Sengon, Teak, Ebony, Jackfruit wood, Ulin, or Kamper. But rather – as the natural of human’s body – which has natural characters that can be change, crack, smashed, broken, there are many holes on it, be able to fragile, can be eaten by pest, and finally will be shattered, eaten by time! The natural of wood is not different with the natural of human’s body (physic). Like it or not the time crushes human’s physic and no one can elude from that crush. Neither is the wood.

            The wood got many labels since the human’s ‘mind’ tends to be greed. Doesn’t want to train to discern the natural of all things as something common, something just the way it is. Mostly people’s mind have been trained, educated, and accustomed to disposed and convinced about the good and bad dichotomy, that a strong wood is the straight one, not the curved one, a quality wood is the clean one, not the dirty one, a good wood is the flawless one, no scratch nor holes. So when the wood shows itself just the way it is, almost there is no one able indeed doesn’t want to see it as the one which is not bad, not flawed.

           

            Jalan Kayu is a way for the artist to accepts, gives, and disengages. The way that makes him able to accepts the natural of wood. The way that makes him able to hands over the mental character which respect, appreciate, positive thinking, and significant value to the wood. The way that makes him able to be peaceful in disengage attitude; an attitude that liberate himself from desire to claim or to have right for his own through the specialties that have been shown from his work for others welfare.

            Keeping Jalan Kayu alive as a way means building mentality and character which principle to the active awareness of mind, feeling, body, apprehending, and mental formations. Meditative way in each time – without a must to the sitting in silence ritual or close the eyes ritual at the quite place enjoys the fake emptiness, but with creative process and everyday life movement as the meditation object. Now and here, the contemporary one. For the purpose that can not be bargain: the compassion. So, to be creating for him is no need of time uprooting or engineer the space. To create for him is nothing more or less than the life itself. Bring his work to live.

            Accepting, giving, and disembarrass form a unity in Jalan Kayu. One to another is not as ladder step; the one is not precede the others. Giving is not precede accepting in the same usual manner that be understood by the community through the causality law. And disembarrass itself is a form of giving which is very smooth. In Jalan Kayu, accepting and giving is a collaborative concept. For pe-jalan kayu it is really difficult to organize a discrimination of black and white about whether giving is the first than accepting or on the contrary. In a short word, the word collaborative aspect exists when the giving aspect arises. The creativity of work start to moves from the exist point of giving.

            The whole process in Jalan Kayu begin with the disembarrass attitude from the judgment of understate, or underestimate the wood. On the point where the artist has understood and has a consciously certain attitude, and did accept the wood just the way it was, which is the wood with all its conditions; perforated, can be broken, crush, damage, decay, and moldy that eaten by the time, all at once he also have gave appreciation, respect, positive thinking, and significant value to the wood. Jalan Kayu not recognizes the comparison of wood. The artist does not know the concept of ‘this is the best wood’, ‘this is the wood that the market prefers’, or ‘this is flawed wood’. There is only process. When later the artist’s works is being imitated, being multiplied, or being claimed by other peoples, he has understood those possibilities from the beginning, and soon he can disembarrass his mind that protest with those situations by keep smiling happily, because consciously he knows that the people’s prosperity rise up out there since they are imitate or multiplied his works that he create. For him there is no need paten right because the important is when many peoples (human kind) made their life become prosperous.

            Disembarrass in Jalan Kayu context is different with defencelessness’s. There is a person, who can give and accept, but it is not sure yet that he/ she can disembarrass. Someone’s way of view that defenseless is dominated by passively. A person that defenseless on the doctor’s verdict to his health by said, “Yes, thus my destiny become.” A person who had disembarrasses character toward the doctor’s verdict with an active demeanor. He saw the doctor’s verdict as a chance precisely to increase his intensity on practicing disembarrassment. Thus also someone that was condemned by the doctor to amputate his ankle as soon as possible in order that his diabetes mellitus not crawled further more. As a person who understood the important of disembarrassment, this patient asked the doctor to amputate base of his tight. Of course the doctor so surprise because this patient did not (like other patients used to be) propose to the doctor to find the other way which is not amputation and yet still adhered by a statement which that patient will pay whatever it cost. For this patient, his legs had meritorious for 50 years. So, in his point of view, he thought that it was natural if his legs wanted to be retired. It was enough for the happiness that his legs given to him. This patient precisely disembarrassed in order that his leg is amputated until his base of tight because if it is amputated until his heel, it’s only made his leg looked not artistic. It will make a long burden to his feeling.

            A person who had an active defenselessness character, who understood and had disembarrass mental, when the doctor said that he will get a temporary blindness for a week, he decided to use the days toward his blindness to read sacred texts. Logically, it was impossible for him to saw the small and dense alphabets. But his creative mind the made an effective way, he asked some peoples around him (his family) to wrote (copied) the texts on the wide papers with big and bold alphabets. Until the last days which verdict by the doctor to him, this patient practiced to control his eyes difficulty by pumping his determined to finish his readings.

            Disembarrassment is being a part that can not be separate from the natural of each living being’s live phase. Human being and even other living being always face for the disembarrass process. Children who begin the age of his milk teeth/ baby teeth change into permanent teeth have to experience the fall out of his milk teeth. For becoming permanent teeth so the milk teeth have to fall out first, even it is not rare if it has to be yang out to the dentist soon in order that there’s a place for the permanent teeth. Likewise for each tree which will produce fruit is impossible to defense its flowers while produce fruit at the same time. Naturally, the altering and blooming phases are different. The one phase has through first then the next phase got a place to show up. To become a fruit, the flowers have to be gone first from the tree. The alteration (disembarrass) of the milk teeth become the permanent teeth and the flower become fruit indicate that each phase in life has to be face for the alteration and the disembarrassment.

            The awareness to disembarrass is result of an understanding that the woods which are being done by us, whatever it well and it is not ours; even it is in our home. It is still not belong to us because it belongs to the nature. It will not really truly ever belong to us. And because it is belong to the nature, so it moves and changes by following the nature law, not following our mind wanted. At the dry season, the woods experience shrinkage since the water content in the wood’s stalk is reducing. Meanwhile at the wet season, the woods experience the development. It signifies that woods also collaborate with the nature since the nature is its master. Because it belongs to the nature, so one day it is the nature itself which will take it back. Even there’s a few people can push their short term intervention, but generally until today human is never really utterly handle that natural process.

            Also the consciousness to disembarrass is related with the attachment and the ability to grateful. A Pe-jalan Kayu who work with wood is not attach with any response and assessment that being given by the society and the wood lover to his works. Whether is it commendation or disapprobation, not even one of it that can change the inherent of humble in his compassion. Keep head and restrained is the feature of a Pe-jalan Kayu if he face the dichotomy assessment. Thus also with a wood lover that have met with Jalan Kayu. If one of the leg of his table is porous eaten by termite, he can accept it with easy, that it is natural whatever of his wood furniture will be damage someday. Even he does a maximum treatment, it possible that there’s a time where his wood furniture will experience fragility. After acceptance character, then he will say thanks to the universe and those woods because they have given good merit to him a long the using time.