REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, MELBOURNE -- Myuran Sukumaran, terpidana mati asal Australia Myuran Sukumaran akan memamerkan lukisan hasil karyanya selama di penjara Kerobokan, Bali. Dana penjualan lukisan nantinya akan dimanfaatkan untuk membeli peralatan lukisan untuk kegiatan seni para napi di sana.
Myuran Sukumaran adalah salah seorang narapidana dalam kasus penyeludupan narkoba asal Australia. Dia dikenal dengan nama Bali Nine, dimana sembilan orang warga Australia yang dinyatakan bersalah berusaha menyeludupkan heroin dari Indonesia ke Australia di tahun 2005.
Myuran dianggap sebagai pemimpin kelompok tersebut, dan sudah dijatuhi hukuman mati, dan sekarang sedang menunggu hukumannya di penjara Kerobokan Bali. Dan selama menjalani tahanan ini, Myuran terlibat dalam pelatihan seni melukis, dan dengan bantuan dua orang seniman asal Australia Ben Quilty dan Matt Sleeth, Myuran sekarang sudah membuat sekitar 20 lukisan yang sebagian besar berbentuk potret untuk dipamerkan dan dilelang.
Salah satu lukisan potret diri Myuran Sukumaran. (Photo: Matthew Sleeth Studio)
Pameran dan lelang akan digelar Sabtu (6/9) nanti di Matthew Sleeth Studio, Brunswick, Melbourne. Akan ada sekitar 20 lukisan yang dipamerkan, dan setiap lukisan tersebut akan dijual dengan harga sekitar $ 500 dollar (sekitar Rp 5 juta).
Sebagian besar berbentuk potret dan menampilkan tokoh-tokoh terkenal baik dari Indonesia maupun Australia seperti Presiden Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, Menteri Luar Negeri Marty Natalegawa, dan Menteri Luar Negeri Australia Julie Bishop. Selama dua tahun terakhir, dua artis Australia ternama Ben Quilty dan Matthew Sleeth sudah membantu dan berkomunikasi dengan Myuran Sukumaran guna membantu memperbaiki teknik melukisnya.
Menurut Megan Tittensor yang ikut terlibat dalam pameran ini, semua hasil penjualan dari pameran lukisan ini akan diserahkan ke penjara Kerobokan untuk membeli berbagai peralatan melukis guna membantu para napi yang terlibat dalam program tersebut di Kerobokan. "Ben Quilty dan Matthew Sleeth juga akan tetap terlibat dalam proyek membantu para napi di penjara lewat seni. Mereka akan kembali lagi ke Kerobokan untuk melanjutkan kerjasama membantu pelatihan di sana," kata Tittensor kepada wartawan ABC International, L. Sastra Wijaya.
Sleeth, whose studio is hosting the exhibition, has also led art workshops with Kerobokan inmates. He and others in regular contact with the Bali prisoners emphasise the role the art room plays in rehabilitation.
"We've all had art communities that have been important to us, so watching that form in a prison is interesting," Sleeth says. "At Kerobokan we've seen how the prison authorities support it too, as it makes the prison less tense."
Funds raised from Sukumaran's art will also contribute to a planned gallery at Kerobokan selling and exhibiting the prisoners' crafts and art.
"These paintings are a small and precious part of a bigger picture," says Julian McMahon, one of a team of Victorian lawyers acting for Sukumaran and Andrew Chan.
"For at least five years, the governors of Kerobokan prison have allowed a range of rehabilitation programs to be started and developed. The art workshop is one of these programs. Andrew and Myuran spend their days working in these programs, they try to do worthwhile things and help other prisoners better themselves."
He says among the groups of prisoners he's seen creating art in the workshop "many carry the visible scars of a life of poverty and deprivation, the look … I had an overwhelming sense of the value of creative work and rehabilitation in a prison, especially for the poorest and most disadvantaged in society."
Quilty, one of Australia's most successful artists, and a former official war artist, is overseas and won't be at the exhibition. However in the past two years, Bali has been firmly tucked into his schedule. He has visited and stayed in touch with Sukumaran to discuss concepts and technique. He persuaded Sukumaran to shift from painting pictures of celebrities, and turn the mirror on himself.
Quilty has said the self-portrait is an image that enables "you to face up to yourself". Who knows what plays in Sukumaran's head as he looks into the mirror?
"The first time I visited Myu in prison I left him with a task of attempting to make one small self-portrait in the mirror every day for a fortnight," said Quilty. "At the end of two weeks he had made more than 20 portraits. He is the most dedicated student I've spent time with in a long time."
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