Butong or Budi Tongkat, that is how people refers Sukri Budi Dharma. The nickname was given to him by his friends during college in Institut Kesenian Jakarta (IKJ). The name was given with a reason. When he and his friends used to play video games, Budi always chose a Shaolin character who always carry a stick. While Butong is a name of a Kung Fu school. That is why the name Butong is identical with this man who lives in Tamanan, Bantul, Yogyakarta. Butong also uses a crutches to help him doing daily activities and in mobility.
Butong loves the art world since he was small where he used to draw. Back then, Butong would read Pos Kota, a newspaper media who provided rubric or a comic page with characters like Ali Oncom, Doyok and others. In his free time, Butong tried to draw those characters in the comic page. From there, he grew fond of painting. H also learn self-taught to draw and started to focus in the art world during his college years in Institut Kesenian Jakarta. Unfortunatelly, Butong did not finish his study because he was to bored to study. However, he continues to learn in the art community. He believes that art is fluid, anyone can learn it anywhere, anytime, with anyone.
With no art background in his family, it was expected that his family asked him to choose other major than art the moment he expressed his intention to study art. However, his love for art made him consistent with his unwavering choice.
In reality, passion cannot lie. If God has made Butong with talent potentials in the world of art, he will be able to show it with his work of art and his achievement.
One of Butong’s achievement was to pass national selection as disabled artist and art enthusiast in the Disability Arts Learning Residencies program in UK, 2019. Disability Arts Learning Residencies is a program developed British Council with DaDaFest. Disabled artist chosen to join this program will make 10-day visit to 5 cities to study more about the art sector by disabled people in England. The 10-day visit is design specially by DaDaFest to give a wide image of art sector by disabled people in England which include meetings, discussion with practitioners or disabled artist organization, attending art show, conferences and other events which offer new references in artistic approach, exchanging ideas or opinions, extending professional network that focus on the art by people with disability.
Currently, Butong and Jogja Disability Arts is working on Project Connections Through Culture Grants 2020/2021. Connections Through Culture is a grant program by British Council in Inggris and East Asia. This program was first held in July-August 2019 by providing a grant fund for artists, art and culture practitioners, collective representative, networks, and art organization in England, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, Filipina, Thailand and Vietnam. This program aimed to support the exchange and collaboration between England and South East Asia.
The Connections Through Culture Program includes international travels. However, due to the pandemic, the grant was used to develop and strengthening both existing and new relationship by providing fund that facilitates online conversation and collaboration.
In Project Connections Through Culture, Butong Idar and Nano Warsono from Jogja Disability Arts collaborated with Lisa Tann and Andrew Bolton from Disability Mural, UK. In this mural collaboration, Jogja Disability Arts (IN) involved few disabled artist in Indonesia. While Disability Mural (UK) involved several students from Ty Gwyn SEN school in Cardiff. Technically, the artist painted in their own house regarding their hopes during the pandemic.
First, Jogja Disability Arts (IN) along with the artists involved, made a sketch of the image and discussed it together to determine the composition and size. The next step, panels for media will be sent to the artists to be painted. The artists worked according to the agreed sketch. Artists will create their own videos during the creation process. After completion, the mural and video were sent back to the Jogja Disability Arts (IN) team. The final process, all works will be collaborated, and put together in a mural.
Disability Mural (UK) and some students at Ty Gwyn SEN school in Cardiff did the same project. They created collages, drawings, and paintings inspired by the pandemic and its effects. Some designs are purely abstract and some are more representational, with text included. All the works will be compiled into designs, and printed as textile patterns on the clothes on the mural object.
The process and stages of the mural project started in January 2021 and ended in June 2021 with Netas/Incubate as the theme. Later, video documentation of this mural collaboration project will be published with subtitles in two languages, English and Indonesian so that it is accessible for people with disabilities. The use of two languages in the collaborative mural project aims to show cooperation between two countries that have different languages and cultures, but have the same meaning and meaning.
