Death In Life, Life In Death: The Body and Death among Javanese People
Several questions that arose during the undergone process, included ‘how do people interpret death today?’ Mainly how the pandemic had fractured the customs and traditions which communities live by. More specifically, we also contemplated whether changes in death rites have changed the way people view death. What do people believe in regards to death? How do people view bodies and corpses? How do people view the changes that occurred with death rites during the pandemic? Oblo and Enka’s collaboration attempts to present death through the fragments captured by the camera and recalled memories derived from their traumatic and magical experiences.This paper presents a description and analysis of the processes in producing the work entitled “Mati Sajroning Urip, Urip Sajroning Pati” (Death in Life, Life in Death). The first part highlights the body in context to the phenomenon of death. The medical perspective regarding the body shows a different position from the cultural perspective. The medical body is a biological body that can naturally grow and decay. The cultural body is a glorified body because it is formed from rudiments of society’s cosmology. The second part describes death rites and its alterations in society. In this case, we explicate mortuary rituals among Javanese people that is very innate in our daily life.