Covid U-Turns

In 2012 in Bali and Java, Australian–Indonesian artist Jumaadi began collecting small one hundred–year–old vernacular timber houses. Some were decorated with ornate carvings; others were lightly ornamented with painted panels that had gradually faded in the damp Indonesian climate. His mission was to rescue the decaying houses and move them to his compound in Surabaya where they would be rebuilt and renovated. Now he has about ten, although he is not quite sure. Over the years the compound has become a de facto art space, somewhere for locals to gather and children to hang out. The houses also serve as a studio and home for when Jumaadi and his Australian family are in Indonesia, which now, because of COVID-19 and the travel restrictions imposed by the Australian Government, is no longer possible. Previously he would visit the compound several times annually from his home on Sydney’s Lower North Shore. Jumaadi, whose practice embraces naïve-like miniature paintings, puppetry, as well as several–metre–long paintings on specially prepared cloth, has had to rent an office space in an industrial zone in Sydney’s Brookvale in an effort to continue working.

The Covid pandemic has