Echoes from our past: 3 digital exhibitions from the Queer Indonesia Archive

Digital Exhibit

Echoes from Our Past: 3 Digital Exhibitions from the Queer Indonesia Archive Poster, a scrapbook page with two old photos

Indonesia is facing a time when the lived experiences and narratives of queer* people are being challenged, erased, and delegitimized in the national collective memory. The echoes of our collective past continue to fade whilst the institutions built to preserve them continue to ignore and erase us. Queer Indonesia Archive (QIA) presents a response to this challenge through the collection, preservation, and celebration of the collective memories of queer Indonesian communities.

Through the creation of these three digital exhibitions, QIA invites viewers into the archive, and into a digital repository of the collective memory of our communities. It is hoped that through the exhibition, the queer communities of Indonesia and the wider ASEAN region can connect into the shared histories of their predecessors. By fostering connection and diversifying the memories and histories that are made public, we hope to challenge existing misperceptions about Indonesia’s queer past and help slow the fading of the shouts, tears, songs and battlecries of our shared pasts and collective struggles.

QIA hopes that these exhibitions will support further exploration and interrogation of the use of both queer and LGBT as terminology for our communities, and allow some insight into the creative and expansive use of language and identity markers throughout our communities and our history.

*It’s important to note that QIA uses queer as a broad and inclusive umbrella term to indicate our interest in objects that reflect the experience of sexualities, genders and gender expressions deemed non-normative by current dominant cis and heteronormative discourses in Indonesia. The term does not adequately capture either the gender or sexual diversity that exists across Indonesia, nor the role this diversity has played in the numerous cultures across the archipelago.

 

Queer Indonesia Archive

Indonesia

Queer Indonesia Archive (QIA) is a digital archiving project committed to the collection, preservation and celebration of material reflecting the lives and experiences of queer Indonesia. The project is volunteer-run, community-focused and non-profit.

Queer Indonesia Archive (QIA) adalah sebuah proyek arsip digital yang bertujuan mengoleksi, menjaga, dan menyebarkan material yang menggambarkan kehidupan dan pengalaman queer di Indonesia. Proyek ini dijalankan oleh sukarelawan, berfokus pada komunitas, dan bersifat non-profit.

          

Echoes from Our Past: 3 Digital Exhibitions from the Queer Indonesia Archive Poster, a scrapbook page with two old photos

Indonesia faces a time when the lived experiences and narratives of queer people are being challenged, erased, and delegitimized in the national collective memory. The echoes of our collective past continue to fade whilst the institutions built to preserve them continue to ignore and erase us. Queer Indonesia Archive presents a response to this challenge through the collection, preservation, and celebration of the collective memories of queer Indonesian communities.

Through the creation of these three digital exhibitions, we invite viewers into the archive, and into a digital repository of the collective memory of our communities. It is hoped that through the exhibition, the queer communities of Indonesia and the wider ASEAN region can connect into the shared histories of their predecessors. By fostering connection and diversifying the memories and histories that are made public, we hope to challenge existing misperceptions about Indonesia’s queer past and help slow the fading of the shouts, tears, songs and battlecries of our shared pasts and collective struggles.

We hope these exhibitions will support further exploration and interrogation of the use of both queer and LGBTI+ as terminology for our communities and allow some insight into the creative and expansive use of language and identity markers throughout our communities and our history.

It’s important to note that QIA uses queer as a broad and inclusive umbrella term to indicate our interest in objects that reflect the experience of sexualities, genders and gender expressions deemed non-normative by current dominant cis and heteronormative discourses in Indonesia. The term does not adequately capture either the gender or sexual diversity that exists across Indonesia, nor the role this diversity has played in numerous cultures across the archipelago.

When describing communities, groups or individuals we make a priority to use terminology that reflects their own preferred terminology where possible.

All exhibitions were optimised to be viewed on mobile devices - if you want the optimal viewing experience we highly recommend viewing on a mobile device.

Indonesian Queer Zines of the 80s, 90s and 00s

Indonesian Queer Zines of the 80s, 90s and 00s

Small-scale, independently published magazines were a dominant medium of expression for the Indonesian lesbian and gay communities before the advent of the internet. Beginning with the first publication in 1982 and ending with a slow transition to the internet by the mid-2000s, for two decades these magazines connected communities all over Indonesia and allowed them to imagine new futures and new possibilities for themselves and people like them.

Queer Jakarta in the 90s: An Incomplete History

QUEER JAKARTA IN THE 90s

Jakarta in the 90s was a city of contradiction; embodying both the conservatism of the Orde Baru regime and the rapid changes brought by unfettered capitalist expansion and globalisation. These excesses would eventually end in the Asian Financial crisis and the overthrow of the Orde Baru regime in 1998. This exhibition will allow a portal into the lives of the queer communities that partied and struggled throughout the decade that would change Indonesia forever.

HIV In The Early Days: Indonesian Queer Community Responses To The Early Epidemic

HIV In The Early Days: Indonesian Queer Community Responses To The Early Epidemic

When the first known AIDS-related death in Indonesia was reported in 1987, the spectre of the virus had already been cast across the archipelago. In response to the lack of government concern about their communities, queer community leaders took it upon themselves to communicate the risks and repercussions of HIV. This exhibition showcases the story of HIV in Indonesia throughout the first two decades of the epidemic with a focus on the response from queer communities - a story of resilience, death, humour and ultimately hope.