Cirebon Pottery Heritage Reimagined in (Mem)Bangun dari Tanah at Sanggar Ikhtiar

From 15 to 20 August, an exhibition titled (Mem)Bangun dari Tanah took place at Sanggar Ikhtiar in Kabupaten Cirebon, featuring ten artists from Cirebon, Bandung, and Makassar. This event engaged with the theme of earth as both a material and a subject, reflecting on Sitiwinangun, a village renowned for its pottery tradition that dates back to the thirteenth century, influenced by Islamic, Arab, and Chinese cultures. A key aspect of this heritage is the Getak Winangun technique, which employs paddle-and-anvil methods. However, since the 1970s, the emergence of a used-tyre recycling industry has limited villagers' access to clay, impacting the production of utilitarian earthenware. Works like Iftikhar A. Rajwie's Remaining of the Abandoned (2025) and Radi Arwinda and Ramdan Kurnia's Rupawan: House of the Nine Panakawan (2025) reflect these shifts, showcasing craft heritage as a dynamic form of expression.