Interview and Art Prints Collaboration with Junieawanbagaskara

Junieawanbagaskara is a self-taught visual artist and got his visual art style with the characteristic Lost and Found Edges-Shattered Edges line because he always remembers when he scribbled on his school desk, on his cupboard, on book covers, and on the walls of his house. Some of his works use drawing techniques using markers as well as digital images, 3D and several other media around him. Lost and Found Edges-Shattered Edges lines and brush markers are hallmarks of his visual style. With his distinctive markers, Jun does not limit the media he uses, he always tries and explores other media. His work has been displayed several times in art exhibitions, zines, art prints, fashion, cassette covers and visual mapping

Apart from that, in his artistic journey, Jun also actively participated in making action posters, to voice various national and international conflict issues. For him, action posters are the closest medium he can achieve to represent political participation in life. For him, action posters are not only a medium for influencing public opinion regarding certain conditions, but also a medium for stimulating personal reflection and collective dialogue through the cultural politics he chooses.

We were given the opportunity to have an interview with Junieawanbagaskara, who contains complex and reflective views on art, cultural politics, and life. As an artist, Jun tries to express his views on the role of posters as a medium of art and propaganda. According to him, posters are not just a tool for spreading messages but also a medium that allows artists to represent political participation in life.

Posters as a propaganda medium, what do you think?

I think each poster has its own value and works in its own way, whether it is propaganda media or not. In my opinion, it depends on the context or message to be conveyed and how the visuals and text in the poster appear to the public. Returning to the function of the poster itself, it may be a medium for conveying something to the public. For me, posters are a medium that allows me, as an artist, to summarize and record the human reality around me in both visual and text form.

We see that you are active in distributing free downloadable posters in digital form on social media. From action posters that you have made. How influential are action posters in encouraging social media users’ active participation in digital activism?

For me, social media today has become mainstream media that can be used by individuals. With that, I try to use it as a forum to spread and expand the values that I believe in. In my opinion, today’s social media is a political and cultural stage medium that I can act on as an individual who can be connected widely and not limited to a geographic location through digital meetings. From digital meetings or dialogues in distributing action posters on social media, it also makes me learn a lot, connect with other individuals more closely, and meet various kinds of individuals who have similar vision values in fighting for conflict issues at the national and international levels. I think whether or not there is this, every individual should encourage the active participation of other individuals in digital activism, which can become agitation in the public through social media.

You know that “Storm Still Continues!” and fear will always go hand in hand with life. As an artist who always focuses on social issues and phenomena in each work, how do you continue to fight for this life, and how do you respond to it? 

I was reminded of the lyrics to the song Beady Eye – The Beat Goes On. 

“Thought I’d know just what to do, that it’d be

How I wanted it to

The Ox and Moon

Were counting me in, I had to give in

Make the thunder and lightning sing

In the eye of a storm there’s no right and no wrong” 

I think the sentence “Thought I’d know just what to do, that it’d be” reflects a hope that someone has the knowledge or skills needed to deal with a particular situation well. Someone may have imagined themselves in that situation and believed they would know exactly how to handle it. However, “How I wanted it to” shows that expectations of how a situation should develop or end may not correspond to reality. It can describe disappointment or surprise when someone realizes that their expected skills or knowledge are not enough to overcome the situation, then when external pressures or natural forces come into play, such as “The Ox and Moon” representing two opposing or conflicting forces or elements, such as real things and abstract things, or physical and spiritual forces. A person is faced with pressure or expectations from both sides; this is represented by “Were counting me in”. However, “I had to give in” shows that a person has no choice but to give up or give in. In the chaos, “Make the thunder and lightning sing” is a powerful metaphor that can express a person’s power or ability to create something beautiful or extraordinary even in frightening or threatening situations because “In the eye of a storm there’s no right and no wrong” reflects the concept that in chaos, the concept of morality or absolute truth becomes blurred where the concepts of “right” and “wrong” no longer apply in “the eye of a storm”.

Maybe it could represent that in life, newness will always be a breath of fresh air in a change in life, but again, the uncertainty in life may always be accompanied by a heavy sense of acceptance of the reality that is happening, but at the core of our “storm” You can still dance, enjoy, and celebrate because, after all, in a “storm” there is no right or wrong. Because for me, “storm” is a force, life is again about time and choices. Whether we choose or not, life will continue and we must still have strategies in order to understand life. We all know that we are the main actors in the narrative of our own lives, and each journey will find its own meaning. Then space and time will record all the trace codes of civilizations that we have visited.

What does the creative process involve when you create art?

When working on art, I often listen to music. Playing some playlists that I got from friends or explored on my own. Playing repeats or just a few albums—I think that is one of the things in the creative process that can evoke the emotions I need to create artwork.

Who is the figure who most influences you in your work and art? 

In my work and art, I am heavily influenced by writers and philosophers. One of the figures who influenced me was the intellectual Noam Chomsky. About his contributions to linguistics and his views on various aspects of philosophy, politics, history, and social criticism.

His books, such as “Manufacturing Consent: The Political Economy of the Mass Media” written with Edward S. Herman, gave me insight into concepts such as the “Propaganda Model” which describes how mass media tends to convey messages that are in accordance with the interests of political and economic elites through case examples from various historical events and contemporary issues. In the book, Edward S. Herman and Noam Chomsky show how mass media can influence public opinion and manipulate our perception of the world, which is reflected in my art, especially in my efforts to express disagreement with narratives dominated by the interests of those in power through the posters I make.

What kind of small steps do you think we can take at this time?

I think the small step we can take now is to keep going and learn from everything. Appreciate every ounce of our energy and provide support to other individuals around us. Happiness is only real when people share and spread love for each other.

What are your hopes for the future?

My hope for the future is to be able to continue creating art and continue to share energy with those around me through works of art. I can continue to learn and develop as an artist so that I can continue to create works that can record the space and time that occurred.

Through its distinctive visual style, characterized by the lines Lost and Found Edges-Shattered Edges, it reflects the freedom of exploration and resistance to conventional boundaries. His activity in making action posters is not only a form of political participation, but also a means of raising collective awareness and stimulating social dialogue. In his view, posters are not just a propaganda medium, but a reflection of the complexity of human reality.