Graphic artist fuses art with green spirit

And among the few female art students, most of them are focussed in batik or fashion design.

While performance art faculties are full of talented, young women, often one must search hard for them in the painting, graphic arts and sculpture departments.

And the few that have the courage to study fine arts to become artists often loose their ambition after marriage or child birth.

Art works by female artists are a rare sight at exhibitions in and around Yogyakarta. For this reason, we must cherish the few woman artists there are.

Karina Putri Hariyanto is one of the country's promising, young female artists.

Originally from Surakarta in Central Java, Karina left her family to study graphic arts at the Institute of Arts (ISI) in Yogyakarta.

For Karina, graphic art was not a substitute choice, as it was for many other ISI students who were not accepted into the painting department -- rather, it was a conscious decision.

Being ambitious and hard-working, Karina considers her current course (to obtain a bachelor's degree in art) as the first step in her artistic and academic career.

Karina is not only a hard-working and creative artist, she is also a brave, young woman who took up a challenge to exhibit her work in a solo exhibition in April 2008 at Art Caf* in Phnom Penh, Cambodia -- offered to her while she was still in her initial phase of study.

Her solo exhibition was part of an intra-cultural exchange project organized by Tembi House of Culture, Yogyakarta.

In a country like Cambodia, where contemporary art is still in its "baby shoes", Karina's expressive graphic prints gave new inspiration and spirit to young Cambodian artists.

As part of the same project, Karina will hold her second solo exhibition, titled "The journey to achieve one's dreams starts with the smallest step", at Tembi House of Culture in Jakarta, starting next week (Nov. 13).

Karina will exhibit new works with topics related to her dreams and ambitions, giving a rare account of a young Indonesian woman's thoughts and psyche.

Visitors to the upcoming exhibition will get a glimpse of some interesting graphic art in the form of Karina's highly skilled woodcut prints, but will also see a perspective of Indonesian contemporary society and culture.

Karina's work can be counted among the tiny group of young female Indonesian artists who create work which is not "pretty" or decorative -- work that expresses the innermost voice of the female soul.

Karina's work reminds one of the perpetually self-reflecting Mexican artist Frida Kahlo, who painted her inner worlds, thoughts and fears.

While Karina uses more subtle symbols and somewhat less personal pictures, her bravery to expose the inner-self to the outside world can be found in her work too.

The work of Karina Putri sets a good example for young Indonesian women in their struggle to position themselves between tradition and modernity without loosing their uniqueness.

Each carved line in Karina's artwork expresses the gentle fight to be accepted, not only as a woman making art, but as an artist as such.

Karina is not only active in creating new pieces of graphic art, but is also concerned about how to protect our environment.

Consequently, she recently started combining her art work with her urge to contribute to saving our environment and making the earth a better place, by producing home-made shopping bags from cotton, each personalized with one of her art works.

"The journey to achieve one's dreams starts with the smallest step", a solo exhibition by Karina Putri Hariyanto. At Tembi House of Culture, Jl. Gandaria I/47B, Kebayoran Baru, South Jakarta. Opens Nov. 13, 2008.