ENVI. RO. MENTAL #2

ENVI. RO. MENTAL #2

After hosting an exhibition in 2023, in early 2024, Wisma Jerman once again collaborated with Ms. Peni Citrani Puspaning, a child educator and visual artist. However, this time Ms. Peni, as she is usually called, did not exhibit alone but was accompanied by her female artist friend Ms. Sekartaji. Together the duo Peni-Sekartaji presented an exhibition titled Envi. Ro. Mental #2 from February 19-23, 2024, at Halle Room, Wisma Jerman. The painting exhibition was opened by Mr. Mike Neuber as the director of Wisma Jerman and attended by several invitees such as Ms. Pramenda Krishna representing Institut Francais Indonesia (IFI) Surabaya, Satriagama Rakantaseta from Rumah Budaya Sidoarjo, as well as female artists such as Heti Palestina Greece, Mrs. Swandayani and a number of students from SMKN 4 Surabaya.

Envi. Ro. Mental #2 is an environment-based art and education project. Although Ms. Peni and Ms. Sekartaji come from different educational backgrounds (Sekartaji Suminto from Product Design ISI Yogyakarta and Peni Citrani Puspaning from Psychology Untag Surabaya), their concerns and anxiety about the current environmental conditions are the same. They remember their childhood where nature was still well preserved. Their surrounding environment was still fertile intact and not heavily polluted and natural processes disrupted by the results of human activity as we can see it nowadays in most parts of the world.

“Envi.Ro.Mental #2” is the second part of a series of exhibitions highlighting environmental issues and aiming to raise awareness. The first exhibition of the series was held prior at Annuqayah Islamic Boarding School, Guluk Guluk, Sumenep, Madura. Annuqayah Islamic Boarding School is the only Islamic boarding school in Indonesia that received the Kalpataru award for its programs and activities on environmental awareness. Wisma Jerman was chosen as the location for the exhibition due to its concern for the environment, which has been one of the focal points of Wisma Jerman’s activities in recent years.

On February 23, 2024, the last day of the exhibition an artist talk with the duo Peni-Sekartaji, moderated by Dhahana Adi Pungkas as Cultural Program Assistant of Wisma Jerman, formed a memorable closing to the exhibition.. The sharing session was among others attended by several students from SMKN 4 Surabaya and SMK Dr. Soetomo Surabaya. Through this session and the exhibition, it was conveyed that humans often don’t realize their role in shaping an environment. According to the beliefs of Peni-Sekartaji the imbalance of the natural environment that is often discussed and debated is the result of the existence of social environmental imbalances that stem from imbalances in humans themselves, such as the inability to control emotions, logic, and feelings. On the contrary to environmental imbalances those other imbalances are not featured as much in the public discourse though they are not of less importance to our world’s well-being.