offering to the hungry ghost
the thing about yogyakarta as a such vibrant center for art and culture, is a meeting point for so many brilliant artist from all around the world. one of them is jimmy ong, an artist from singapore and based in new york. the thing about jimmy, which attracts me personally is the fact that we might be a long lost brother and sister. we share a chinese hokkian root and share the same family name: ong. we both spend a long talk on the relationship of the women in both of our family. the roles of gender. the roles of mother. the roles of wife.
me, being very loose on my chinese roots, somehow on the last full moon a couple days ago watch him do “the hungry ghost” ritual that he did in front of the ICAN gallery parking space, just at the side of the suryodiningratan street. it is the first time i watch it live and trying to understand this ritual of one of my great ancestor. i guess slowly watching jimmy doing this ritual, did evoke something in me to respect the culture of my ancestor.
his work are currently being part of the makcik project this week. please do not miss them if you are in town.
jimmy ong doing the “hungry ghost ritual”
