Zakka Nurul Giffani Hadi:
Pelukan Ibu di Tengah Ombak Dunia
(A Mother’s Embrace Amidst the Waves of the World)

Nyi Roro Kidul, a supernatural being in Indonesian folklore, is not a stranger to the Javanese and other people living in Yogyakarta and Central Java. Yet, the part of the folklore that she had a deaf son and tried to hide the fact is not something we often hear.

An archive at KITLV, “SY BUDAG. Een sage uit Java’s bergland” (SY BUDAG. A legend from the Javanese highlands), as recorded by J.F. Scheltema on 26 April 1919, narrates this rarely-told story about Nyi Roro Kidul seeking a wife among the princesses of Java for her “stone-deaf” son to marry. The son faced refusals after refusals from the Javanese kingdoms that Nyi Roro Kidul and Budag visited. As part of her effort, she invited a foreign physician to diagnose her son, declaring that chaste affection whispered in his ear would restore his hearing. However, in Budag’s encounter with Nyi Roro Pending, that statement proved wrong, and Nyi Roro Pending repelled him, as she felt deceived by not being informed that Si Budag was deaf.

In response to this, visual artist Zakka Nurul Giffani Hadi painted Pelukan Ibu di Tengah Ombak Dunia. This work depicts the struggle of a Deaf child against societal stigma. The mother figure was depicted as the source of love, protection, and sincere acceptance that empowers the child to strive. Amidst language differences and doubts, the mother is a home that welcomes unconditionally. This work sends a message that Deaf children are not a disgrace that needs to be hidden. Instead, they are human beings with rights, dreams, and futures like everyone else.

Cast

Artist
Zakka Nurul Giffani Hadi

Work Details

Medium: Acrylic on canvas (99x58 cm), photographed and printed