Wimo Ambala Bayang | "The Messengers of Chaos & Order"

The work departed from Wimo's childhood experience of a water fountain in the form of a lizard statue which he believed to be located in Kaliurang. He could not find the statue and instead he discovered stories about the magical landscape around Merapi.  Located so close to a mountain that is believed to be a mythological kingdom of spirits, villages on the slopes of Merapi may share certain spaces and intersect with the magical landscape of the Merapi kingdom.  Many stories were told about the forest turning into a market at night, a river that looks like a trail so a group of climbers followed it before being rescued by the SAR team on the edge of a cliff, and so on.

In his photographic work, Wimo depicts portraits of 'messengers'. The photos were taken at the Boyong river.  It is said that the Boyong river is a connecting highway between the kingdom of Merapi and the Southern Sea.  It is said that you can often see small candles moving from south to north, horse-drawn carriages, and trains.  Wimo portrayed the bustling messengers using several lumping horses that had previously been filled with spirits, presented at that specific 'highway'

Site #8: Rumah Tanaman Hias
Artist: Wimo Ambala Bayang
"The Messengers of Chaos & Order", 2022