Senja X5

Having a journal from 1997, since I was 23, helps me reflect. Growing up, I experienced dreams, and these visions would come to reality. Lacan suggests that what we perceive as truth is constructed through narrative and language, implying that our understanding of reality is inherently shaped by symbolic representations (2020).

Strange women from all walks of life came into my life and dreams. So, I decided to learn more about lost narratives in our history. Before the Dutch colonial period, women in Java were guardians and rulers. Their roles shifted drastically during colonial times. My great-grandmother was a Nyai. Despite her royal lineage, at the age of thirteen, she was sold to a 33-year-old Dutch officer because her father, burdened by gambling debts, was in deep financial trouble. The stories of these women became the light in my life, so I symbolise these epiphanies as enjoying the sunset, representing my work in translating fragments of my dreams into meaning. This particular sun has been present in many of my illustrated editions. In honour of this journey, I created a dedicated edition titled Senja (meaning “the sunset”). I hope you will also find your sunset. –Melissa Sunjaya

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Ref:
Lacan, J. (2020) Écrits: A Selection. 1st edn. Routledge.