Natasha Tontey on Riar Rizaldi's Ghost Like Us and Indonesian Horror Cinema

In a personal essay featured in ArtAsiaPacific, artist Natasha Tontey shares her insights on the work of Indonesian artist Riar Rizaldi, particularly his 2020 video essay titled "Ghost Like Us." Tontey first viewed this piece on her laptop in September 2020, prior to its official release. The title reflects Rizaldi's perspective that individuals raised in Indonesia often feel like spectral beings, lost and confused. The 20-minute video explores the role of Indonesian horror films, primarily produced during Suharto's New Order—a military regime lasting over thirty years—as a tool for propaganda. It reconstructs societal perceptions of morality through phantoms, monsters, and demons, contrasting them with "angelic" figures such as devout Muslim youths, businessmen, and military officials. The work examines how this system perpetuates class disparities between rural (kampung) and urban areas, as well as the rich and poor. Tontey admits her bias due to her long-standing acquaintance with Rizaldi, emphasizing that his work resonates with her own artistic practice, not in style but in its exploration of a persistent fascination: horror cinema.