Artists, Grantees Reflect on Bali Exhibition That Focused on Indonesia Forests

Every jungle tells a story, and artists, sustainable practitioners, and Pulitzer Center grantees at the Kisah Rimba (Story of the Jungle) Art Exhibition and Talks in Bali shared a special one about Indonesia's forests and what can be done to help preserve them.

From the highest mountain peak of Puncak Jaya to the deepest lake of Matano, Indonesia is home to 12% of the world's mammals and the second-highest level of biodiversity in the world, with Bali located in the region of the world’s highest marine biodiversity. 

However, thanks to industrial plantations, mining, and food estate programs, Indonesia, which has the world’s third-largest tropical forest, lost 4.12 million hectares of forest cover from 2001 to 2022, according to Global Forest Watch. 

Speaking at "What We Don’t Talk About When We Talk About the Forest," Pulitzer Center Rainforest Journalist Fund (RJF) grantee Ahmad Arif highlighted a critical issue in forest management, emphasizing the ongoing injustice faced by local, Indigenous farmers. 

He pointed out that local farmers cultivating land less than two hectares are prohibited from practicing slash-and-burn agriculture. This method helps make the land fertile, especially in regions like Kalimantan, which lacks volcanic mountains that naturally enrich the soil like those on Java island. 

“Indigenous farmers from the Dayak tribe in Kalimantan have been using fire in farming since centuries ago, with customary safeguards to prevent forest fires,” Arif said. He noted that large-scale forest fires have become more widespread in recent history, coinciding with the expansion of major rubber and palm oil plantations that are encroaching on rainforests. 

Arif's Pulitzer Center-supported project National Food Estate Program Destroying Indonesia's Small Islands sheds light on how a national program threatens forests and the food security of local communities in Indonesia. 

By promoting food hegemony through the cultivation of non-native crops like rice and maize, the food estate policy endangers forests and Indigenous food that sustains the diet and culture of local communities in Kalimantan, Papua, and small islands in Indonesia, ultimately widening social inequality. 

Exhibition co-curator Izmar Wahyudi commented that the event was a unique collaboration between journalism and the arts. The exhibition took place in Denpasar, Bali, in December 2023.

In the conception phase, Wahyudi and co-curator Made Bayak were given reports that were supported by the Pulitzer Center and highlighted critical rainforest issues. They then worked with Balinese artists to create new artwork and to present existing artwork that resonate with the rainforest theme. 

In a comic format, Balinese artist Gus Dark responded to Arif’s reporting on the food estate policy. Slinat, a well-known mural artist, visualized the plight of fishermen from the Duano tribe, whose village is being destroyed by land abrasion, as a sign of the climate crisis. 

The Balinese artists involved in the Kisah Rimba exhibition are those who have engaged with environmental and social issues. 

Bayak found the Pulitzer Center stories' theme very compelling, as the reporting aligns with the Balinese artists’ struggle to voice criticism against overdevelopment that is degrading the environment. 

Irma Sitompul, a sustainability practitioner, emphasized the need to continue raising awareness about the forests in both a critical and hopeful tone: “Young people need to believe that there is an alternative economic system where welfare for the people can be achieved without destroying our forests, our source of life.”