Ibu dan Anak (Mother and Child) (1982) depicts an infant being lifted and choked by its mother. Considering his earlier works such as Eksperimen patung hidup (1979), a performative piece in which he stood covered in dirt as a ‘living statue’ in a park, Ibu dan Anak (Mother and Child) could also be regarded as a critique of ‘ethnic-ness’ in art. It is worth recalling, Siahaan’s exact words, “It is time that art activities and its academies go down to the dominant people of Indonesia (the farmers and fishermen). Interacting with simplicity without daydreaming (masturbating)”. Throughout the 1980s, Semsar would continue to critique global capitalism, national culture and the tendencies within art that privileged the pictorial sublime.
