The Anguish of Rama Mural

The Anguish of Rama

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Summer 2008 -Indonesia

During the summer of 2008, I had the distinct honour and privilege of visiting South East Asia and lecturing in Jakarta, the capital city of Indonesia. The person responsible for my journey to Asia was a remarkable woman by the name of Jane Chen. This was my first visit to the region (with stays in Japan, Thailand, and Indonesia), and, to date, one of the most insightful and exhilarating experiences of my life. I had harboured dreams of making such a journey –my list of places to visit is long and at the time Egypt and the Arab Emirates had been on my sighs. But this adventure came about not because of my own initiative, but as a response to an invitation from out of the blues.

On a cold February morning, I received an email from the Indonesian island of Bali. As my life goes, this was not out of the ordinary. Since its creation in 2003, Muralmaster® has generated more than 200 pieces of correspondence from all over the world. At times it truly amazes me how the pages in my website are read and enjoyed by so many people who I never dreamed of reaching before the age of the internet. With over 100,000 per month, Muralmaster has done more for my career more than any other venue in the previous two decades. Doors have been opened.

(Fig. 2) Con------------y.

I brewed a fresh cup of coffee, returned to my computer, and again reread the e-mail a couple of times, and then a few more times for good measure. The letter was written with great care in a very beautiful and formal style of English that reminded me of the prose used by great English novelist such as Henry Rider Haggard or Joseph Conrad at the turn of the twentieth century. It was immediately obvious that the writer was one who had learned proper English later in life just as I had. This was all very interest and exciting to me because from an early age I practice a sort of meditation by analysing what clues I can discern about an individual from his or her writing. And as mysteries go, this one was a doozy –quite extraordinary.

Jane Chen

In this particular case, the person writing to me was Jane Chen, an Indonesian multilingual ceramist of Chinese descent, a world traveller who –to name just a few of the things she does, is also a performer, a White Crane martial arts practitioner and teacher, an aroma-therapist, and a business entrepreneur. This I got to learn much later (a little bit at a time) fore in this first letter, Jane did not say much about her at all. What she enthusiastically disclosed was how much she enjoyed my art and my writings, and then invited me to come to Bali and offered to sponsor the trip.

Again, for me this was not out of the ordinary. I have received invitations to visit other places and have been sponsored to do commissions, workshops and lectures in other countries. A few weeks before the letter from Jane, I have received a similar invitation to visit France. But I had been to France before –and loved it! However, Indonesia was on the other side of the world, it was on my list of places to go and here was my chance to do so. The adventurer in me was screaming to come out again and I desperately needed a change of pace to recapture the excitement of my youth. What better place to do so than the Far East?

Jane Chen

An animated exchange of letters followed, and eventually Jane and I had several phone conversations. Jane’s English was excellent, sort of British with Americanisms thrown in at times; she had made long visits to the United States. By mutual agreement, I scheduled my trip for the middle of May). You see, Jane had done this before with other artists for cultural exchange programs under the banner of OnStage Bali. I would do a lecture series and consult on some of her projects. And so, armed with an Indonesian Cultural Visa, my old laptop, an LCD projector and a couple of pieces of luggage, I set out for a three-week Asian adventure… that lasted three months!

On----t. My e-mail address is in the ‘contact’ page. Cheers everyone! –John Rivera-Resto, January 2010.

Summer 2008 - Indonesia

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Jane Chen

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BINUS University

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Jane Chen

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