Erzhal Umamit

Erzhal Umamit is a mixed-media artist whose practice is rooted in an ongoing exploration of identity, landscape, and social memory in Maluku. His deep engagement with the visual arts drives him to continually expand his creative methods and articulate stories that emerge from the region’s environmental beauty, cultural richness, and complex social realities.

Through his work, Erzhal documents and interprets the shifting dynamics of Maluku, presenting nuanced visual narratives that reflect both the lived experience of its communities and the layered histories embedded in the archipelago. His artistic approach highlights Maluku not simply as a geographical space, but as a site of multiplicity, resilience, and collective identity.

In addition to his individual practice, Erzhal is an active member of several creative collectives, including Pattimura Creative Space and jalanjalanbandaneira. These collaborative platforms provide him with opportunities to exchange knowledge, expand artistic dialogue, and co-create projects that further enrich his practice. His participation in these communities underscores his commitment to fostering shared creativity and cultivating a broader cultural ecosystem in Maluku.

Titel : Apa Kabar Banda Hari Ini

Nutmeg its warm, fragrant aroma was once the reason the world fought over Banda Neira. To the colonial powers, it was far more than a spice: it was scented gold, a commodity that promised control over markets and empires. Yet for the people of Banda, nutmeg was not always a blessing. It marked the beginning of profound sorrow. Four centuries ago, on 8 May 1621, the first genocide in Banda Neira took place. Forty-four Bandanese leaders were executed at Fort Nassau under Dutch colonial rule, using hired rōnin as the executioners. This brutality was followed by the forced exodus of the Indigenous Bandanese to the Kei Islands what is now known as Banda Eli. The wound from this history has never truly healed.

Today, Banda no longer faces guns or samurai. Yet in silence, the island experiences another form of destruction not of its people, but of its environment. Plastic waste, consumer debris, and the residue of an expanding tourism industry seep into the island’s body. They pollute its seas, destabilise its ecosystems, and slowly extinguish life. This is no longer genocide, but ecocide: the systematic killing of a living environment, carried out through subtler means tourism wrapped in beauty, unchecked development legitimised by policy frameworks, and a greed that never truly disappears. History appears to repeat itself, only in different forms. Nutmeg was once the cause of colonial conquest; now waste becomes a new wound. Through this work, I invite the viewer to see Banda not merely as an exotic landscape but as a body continually violated by us, by humanity itself.

Zise : 90 x 60cm

Medium : Print

2024