Mia Bustam

Early life and marriage

Mia was born on 4 June 1920^[1] in Purwodadi on the island of Java in the Dutch East Indies.^[2] Sources differ on her birth name. The Indonesian art Wulan Dirgantoro critic gives her full name Fransiska Emanuela Sasmiati, also rendered Sasmiya Sasmojo.^[3] The translator and feminist critic Astrid Reza, meanwhile, provides Sasmiyati Sri Mojoretno.^[2] In its obituary, the Indonesian magazine Tempo simply gives Sasmiati.^[1]

The daughter of Raden Ngabehi Sasmojo, a minor nobleman from central Java, Mia lived with her family in a small pavilion near the Kunstkring Building in Batavia (now Jakarta). In her youth, she learned several languages,^[3] being a student of an Europeesche Lagere School (European Primary School).^[4] In 1933 she began studying at the Van Deventer School to become a kindergarten teacher, but dropped out in 1936, after her father lost his job.^[2]

In 1943, Mia met the painter S. Sudjojono at the Kuntskring.^[3] Sudjojono, then a member of the Institute for People's Education and Cultural Guidance, had earlier built a reputation as a co-founder and spokesperson for the Indonesian Painters Association (Persatuan Ahli Gambar Indonesia; PERSAGI).^[5] Due to class differences^[6]—Sudjojono was the son of a poor migrant worker^[7]—her family opposed the relationship. Nonetheless, they married in 1943.^[6] During the Indonesian National Revolution, which lasted from 1945 until 1949, Mia and Sujojono moved several times, from Jakarta to Pati to Surakarta.^[8] By the 1950s, the couple were living in Yogyakarta.^[9]

Sudjojono travelled Europe in the 1950s, at which time he met and began an extramarital affair with the music student Rose Pandanwangi.^[7] Mia learned of the affair in 1956, after discovering a woman's handkerchief in Sudjojono's pocket. Although Sudjojono initially denied the affair,^[8] he ultimately acknowledged it and asked Mia to permit him a polygamous relationship. Mia refused, and the couple were separated in 1958. Their divorce was finalized the following year,^[10] and although Sudjojono—who had moved to Jakarta—remained in contact, Mia recalled that he often broke his promises.^[11] Mia thus became the single mother of eight children:^[12] five sons and three daughters.^[8]

Painting

After her divorce, Mia took up painting^[13] under the pseudonym Mia Bustam. Mia was an abbreviated form of Sasmiati, while Bustam referred to Bustaman, her trah (family line). She produced a series of sketches of her children, and completed a self-portrait,^[14] and began work on a family portrait.^[15] In her memoirs, Mia later recalled that Sudjojno had previously encouraged her to draw,^[13] though she claimed no formal training.^[16] In her memoirs, Mia recalled being surprised by the positive responses from her colleagues, but over time gaining confidence through continued practice. Regarding her experiences with a still life, she wrote:

I plucked the desemberbol from the garden and I planted it in that pot. I arranged the cover of the altar in curvy shapes, I placed the pot above it, [then] I started to paint. I finished it in three days. It was good, it appeared to be three-dimensional, not flat. I began to feel confident and my brushstrokes became more solid.^[17]

Mia joined the Young Artists of Indonesia (Seniman Indonesia Muda, SIM), a nationalist art group that had been headed by Sudjojono until 1959.^[18] Recognizing that the collective was dispirited, she called for greater unity,^[9] and went on to formally lead SIM from 1962 through 1963.^[13] In this capacity, she oversaw the purchase of 2,000 square metres (22,000 sq ft) of land north of Yogyakarta, which was used as a workshop. Mia and the children also made their home there.^[19]

Mia also joined the Yogyakarta branch of the Institute for People's Culture (Lembaga Kebudajaan Rakjat, LEKRA), the cultural branch of the Communist Party of Indonesia (Partai Komunis Indonesia, PKI).^[13] She had previously dealt with the party through Sudjojono, who had represented the PKI in parliament from 1955 to 1959,^[7] and her attendance at the group's first congress in 1959 had been noted by senior leadership. Through LEKRA, Mia enrolled at the People's University and participated in the Revolutionary Literature and Arts Conference of 1964, and was asked to complete portraits of Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels.^[20] She was also a member of the agency for Indonesia–Soviet Union relations.^[12] Her LEKRA membership ultimately resulted in Mia spending thirteen years in prison without trial.^[13]

Imprisonment

In September 1965, a coup was undertaken by a group identifying itself as the 30 September Movement (Gerakan 30 September, or G30S). In the aftermath, President Sukarno was replaced by General Suharto as President of Indonesia. Suharto blamed the coup on the PKI, and the years that followed were marked by a tumultuous transition in which hundreds of thousands were killed.^[21] As a LEKRA member, Mia was captured on 23 November 1965, as were several other SIM members and students.^[a][22]

After a series of interrogations,^[22] during which she recalled knives being thrown at her,^[23] Mia was detained at a series of prison camps. She was transferred no less than six times.^[1] Shortly after her detention, she was held at Fort Vredeburg in Yogyakarta.^[4] Beginning in 1966, she spent five years at the Wirogunan Prison in Yogyakarta. She was transferred in 1971 to the Plantungan concentration camp,^[13] near Kendal, and later sent to the Bulu Prison in Semarang.^[4] Mia later recalled experiencing extensive psychological abuse, including threats and verbal abuse.^[b] Detainees were involved in various activities, including gardening and making crafts for sale. Mia and other detainees also participated in choirs and other performance arts, which she later wrote helped them navigate the frustrations and despair of prison life.^[24]

Due to her previous experience, Mia was frequently tasked with set and costume design. She was also made to paint unpaid commissions by the prison wardens. In Wirogunan, she painted a jasmine that had grown in the prison yard. Later, in Plantungan, she completed a landscape depicting the prison grounds. In both instances, she excluded the barbed wire that surrounded her.^[25] Other works completed during this period included portraits of a mediating woman and Werdoyo Deksono, as well as an embroidery that depicted an imaginary meeting with her grandchildren.^[2]

Later life and death

Mia was released on 27 July 1978.^[13] She moved to Depok, where she took a variety of jobs to support herself. Due to the stigma against former detainees, she often used a pseudonym;^[25] this stigma also prevented her from continuing her artistic career.^[2] Rejecting the claim that she had been a PKI member,^[1] she also organized an organization for former detainees,^[25] which campaigned to restore the reputations of former detainees.^[1]

In the 2000s, Mia published two memoirs. The first, published in 2006, was titled Sudjojono dan Aku (Sudjojono and Me) and dealt with her relationship with Sudjojono between 1941 and 1958. Reviews of the memoir, which was initially intended for distribution within the family, focused primarily on its representation of Sudjojono. The second, published two years later, was titled Dari Kamp ke Kamp: Cerita Seorang Perempuan (From Camp to Camp: Story of a Woman) and focused on her experiences from 1958 to 1978.^[26] Yvonne Low of the University of Sydney describes these memoirs as chronicling "in rich textual depth and description the highs and lows of her life".^[6]

Mia died on 2 January 2011.^[4] In 2022, Mia's first memoirs were reissued by Penerbit Ultimatus.^[8] Two memoirs were published posthumously, Kelindan Asa dan Kenyataan (The Entanglement of Hope and Reality, 2022) and Mutiara Kisah Masa Lalu (Pearls of Stories from the Past, 2024).^[2] The former explored Mia's experiences from her liberation until her death, while the latter provided highlights from throughout her life.^[4] An English-language translation of a chapter from Sudjojono dan Aku by Astrid Reza was published in 2021.^[27]