(Art:1 New Museum, 2013,)
Ever wonder what it would be like to leave your life behind and move to a completely new city where you didn’t even speak the language. Sydney’s Grace wondered that too, although she quickly found out…
Grace moved to Jakarta in July of 2014 as an expat and her experiences give an insight to life within Indonesia as well as cultural differences between Sydney’s northern beach lifestyle and Jakarta. “At first I found it a bit of a culture shock, it was so hot…the heat wasn’t like a heat I’d ever experienced before and there were so many different cultural nuances to what I’m used to back home”. The period of adjustment for any expatriate is often a challenging one and for Grace, a 26 year old marketing director for Telstra, this was certainly the case. Although like any big move to a new city things will adjust with time and effort. “After a few weeks I had started to settle into my job and was able to clear my mind and start to see Jakarta a bit more clearly”. Grace began to engage with the diversity and artistic fringes that layer themselves within Indonesia. Seeing the artistic diversity gave a sense of discovery and interest in an otherwise foreign city. Through this investigation of her interest in art within an Indonesian context Grace was able to integrate within the Indonesian context with more ease and also meet people of similar interests. “Things got easier as time passed, I guess I found the things/people that worked for me…that helped a lot”.
Indonesia’s artistic climate is generally said to be situated in Yogyakarta and this is somewhere that was a real culmination of the country and her love for art when she finally visited. Describing it as an “eye opening” experience, it brought a deeper connection to this new country and space.
From this conversation it seemed fair to take away the importance of finding your niche within a new country and within Indonesia, art and design are a thriving sub section that present a new resident with a fantastic gateway in.
While a new move is hard, it is often an incredibly rewarding experience and this is certainly the thread that weaves Grace’s story together.
References:
Art 1: gallery, Museum, Jakarta, Viewed April 27th
Art:1 New Museum, 2013, Foto, Viewed April 27th
Indonesia Global Design Studio 