Sowing Seeds of Art on Barren Soil

Herlambang Jaluardi

· 6 minutes read

The coastlines of East Flores and other islands in the regency are hot and dry, and see little rain. Silvester Petara Hurit, 38, wants to spur the imagination of the local people through the arts to go beyond these limitations.

Silvester was extremely busy from 22 June to 7 July 2019. As the host of Yogyakarta’s Teater Garasi and four artists from Japan and Sri Lanka, he was responsible for taking care of his guests’ needs during their stay. The group performed together on Saturday (7/6/2019) to stage a play titled Peer Gynts in Larantuka (The travelers from Asia) at a public seaside park.

Preparations for the play started long before the theatrical group arrived from Yogyakarta. Yudi Ahmad Tajudin, who directed the play, said that Silvester was his primary contact in Larantuka. Yudi absorbed the dynamics of life in Larantuka and surrounding areas through Silvester to form the foundation for the script, which he developed with Indonesian musician Ugoran Prasad.

Silvester invited performers from across East Flores. Ten artists, including himself, sat down with the guest artists to share the politics, society and cultures in their places of origin. The discussions were important for Yudi because they wanted to illustrate the personal anxiety and fear that result from global changes.

Silvester naturally raised his concerns as a native of East Flores, which he said underwent fundamental changes in the post-colonial era following Portuguese and Dutch rule.

"There are large institutions that greatly affect many things in East Flores. First is the state. There are village administrative systems, neighborhood units, community units and political systems that affect many things. Second are religious institutions – churches. Religion is very strong here. Their mission is to help develop the people. Meanwhile, the reality is that we have stayed just the same, like this. That is also a problem," he said.

The community’s interaction and intersection with the two institutions brought good changes. On the other hand, residual trauma remained. The centuries-old social order overlapped with the two dominant institutions, said.

Life force

Silvester once wrote in an essay that the customary wisdom of East Flores’ Lamaholot ethnic group was a response to the harsh geographical conditions of the region. Some customary wisdoms and traditions had been prohibited, because they were contrary to state laws and religious values.

The harsh natural conditions has made the Lamaholot people tough, and the local artistic tradition has woven their souls into a carefree society full of celebration and the joy of art.

"The Lamaholot ancestors discovered the power of art and used it as a life force in facing the short rainy season. The harsh natural conditions has made the Lamaholot people tough, and the local artistic tradition has woven their souls into a carefree society full of celebration and the joy of art," he wrote in a piece that appeared on 8 Aug. 2015 in Kompas.

Silvester has grown up with these artistic traditions. He used to listen to his father tell stories about the Lamaholot ancestors. But the traditions and arts of the East Flores people seemed to have vanished. Larantuka and its surrounding areas were never included on the maps of the nation’s arts and cultures, even though they had very strong traditions.

The situation prompted Silvester to pursue an academic career in art. Abandoning his pursuit of religious studies after graduating from Hokeng Flores Seminary senior high school, he enrolled at the Indonesian Arts College in Bandung, now called the Indonesian Cultural Arts Institute.

In Bandung, he studied the performing arts while writing play scripts and acting. He also observed the arts movements in many cities. He wrote about his observations and regularly published his writings in the media, particularly in Bandung’s Pikiran Rakyat daily from 2007 to 2010. He developed his network of artists.

His parents, especially his mother, questioned his career choice. "Mother and Father once collected enough money to call from a wartel [telephone kiosk] in the city [Larantuka]. \'So, you went to a school far away [only] to study theater, not at a law or civil engineering school,\' Mother said," recalled Silvester. His mother eventually gave up.

"There are words from my father that I remember from that time. \'School is not for you to get a job, but to become smarter. You will know it when people are deceitful,’” he recalled. “Perhaps this was because my father was illiterate and had been tricked by many people."

Silvester graduated as the top student.

For the village

After college, he felt he should go home, leaving all the comforts of Bandung and Java. Believing that art can empower people, Silvester was determined to restore the traditional arts in his village.

"I needed a vehicle. So when a civil servant recruitment [CPNS] was held, I applied and was accepted," he said. He then invited his friends – teachers, clergymen and housewives – to form arts groups in their neighborhoods. As for Silvester, he formed a theatrical group, Teater Nara, in 2016.

The group is very fluid. They meet almost every week, but never at the same place because its members live far away. Some have to travel across the island and others have to leave their farms to attend the meetings. It was Teater Nara that sowed the seeds of other arts groups in remote areas of Flores.

Silvester and his peers supervised each show from production to playwriting. He stopped performing, which allowed him the time to found art festivals like the Teen Festival and the Nubun Tawa Festival.

West Adonara 1 High School once won the school drama contest at the Teen Festival, and then went on to compete at the national level in Jakarta to win first place in 2013.

"After winning, enrollment at the school increased. The school built new classroom buildings, so the students were no longer split up into morning and evening classes," he said.

The Nubun Tawa Festival 2018 in Eta Knere, Bantala village, Lewolema district, also had a positive impact. The road to the hill was paved and installed with streetlights, making it easier for the local people to transport their crops to Larantuka.

Many theater studios now exist in East Flores. However, the work is not finished. They need scripts for their stage performances. Silvester and his peers are collecting stories on the history of each village.

Change is in the air. Silvester recalled his father\'s advice on his first day at work at the East Flores Tourism and Culture Office: "My father said, ‘Work not for money, but to develop your hometown. Your job is to improve the village."

Silvester is still hard at work in fulfilling this purpose.

Silvester Petara HuritBorn: Lewotala, East Flores, 25 May 1981

Wife: Maria Rosalia Dea

Children: Antonius Ledan Hurit, Yosef Dominggus Batan Hurit

Education:

- Hokeng Flores Seminary senior high school

- Indonesia Arts College, Bandung (now Indonesian Cultural Arts Institute)

Occupation: Head of Arts and Culture Development, East Flores Tourism and Culture Office

Editor:

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