Tintin Wulia and her family lived through the regime of Suharto (1968–1998) as Indonesian Chinese and chose to stay in Indonesia by giving up Chinese citizenship, compelled to adopt Indonesian-sounding...
Tintin Wulia and her family lived through the regime of Suharto (1968–1998) as Indonesian Chinese and chose to stay in Indonesia by giving up Chinese citizenship, compelled to adopt Indonesian-sounding names, and the Chinese language and culture were suppressed. Even after Suharto's resignation in 1998, Wulia continued to grapple with constant visa and travel issues with her Indonesian passport.
In (Re)Collection of Togetherness, which began in 2007, involves Wulia collecting passports from all the legitimate countries on Earth, duplicating them, and keeping the collection up to date. Each passport contains a swatted mosquito, and next to the blood specks from these mosquitoes, Wulia inscribes the names of people she knows. While passport holders may encounter various challenges when crossing borders, mosquitoes, on the other hand, effortlessly carry human blood—which often serves as one’s nationality signifer—in their bellies, enabling them to travel freely.
The suspended installation invites viewers to reflect upon the complexities of identity, and movement in our contemporary world.