Yuni’s eyes stared at a painting object she made. There was an old man in a white hat sitting alone on a chair. Both of hands were holding armpit crutches. The head fell on the hands. Even though she was bowed down and her mouth is covered by a mask, sadness seemed obvious. Strong. Deep in the silence as if lost. The surroundings are green with leaves and trees.
“It’s not finished yet, the details still need to be tidied up,” Yuni told a person from discussedperempuan.com when the person visited her residence recently, while she was grabbing some acrylic paints and brushes.
Her fingers are nimble mixing colors. She chose yellow and green to produce a lighter green. Yuni started to slowly brush on the canvas measuring 1x1 meter. Overwrite dark green with light green. For a moment, the leaves on the canvas came alive.
Yuni Daud, as she is known, is a physically disabled painter from Bengkulu City. Painting with heart to produce a perfect work. Yuni has spent more than a month preparing the painting. The plan is to fill the museum of one of Indonesia’s modern painting maestro, Basoeki Abdullah.
Yuni accepted a confirmation of the invitation to fill the museum some time ago. Her heart is immeasurably happy. How is it possible that a female painter with a disability from a small town, such as Bengkulu, has a place. Bright, to be the trigger for Yuni’s dreams in the future.
“Later I had a dream, remembering the man in this painting. I asked my friend to find out about this man. My friend said that the man was still alive and sold rujak (a mixture of sliced fruit and vegetables served with a spicy palm sugar dressing). If this painting is sold, I want to share it with him,” added the woman whose full name is Yuni Darlena.
Yuni got the idea to paint the old man from a friend who works as a photographer. She received a candid photo of an event a few months ago. This is not the first time. Yuni sometimes gets inspiration for painting ideas from photos sent by her friends. Except for the water. Memories of various water stories are still clearly stored in Yuni’s head.
Yuni still keeps the memory of childhood, the cheerful girl who always bathed in the river when she came home. The economic limitations of her parents did not allow Yuni to visit the swimming pool every day. Bathing in the river was an alternative choice. She poured these memories into paintings of the sea, the morning dew or the river flowing between the fields.
“I feel good to paint about water. To paint about childhood. I used to be able to swim, now I can't. Memories of the past are poured on the canvas,” Yuni recalled.
Yuni's eyes looked far away, reminiscing about the doctor said she couldn't walk anymore. Instantly, the joy faded on her face. At that time, she was enjoying being a mother. She had to take care of her first daughter who was not even 4 years old.
It is really difficult for anyone to accept the fact that they have to depend on a wheelchair for their life. Never comes into mind. Moreover, you have to live it. But God willed otherwise. Yuni, who in 1998 was 28 years old, had to choose to be a person living in a wheelchair. After almost 2.5 years of struggling with various medications and surgeries.
The infection that hit her spine after a fall left her paralyzed. Various treatments she took with her family still yielded no results. Until finally she had to prepare herself to accept the reality. Supporting the bones with a rigid corset so that the nerves are not painful and resting on a wheelchair.
Yuni’s grief is not over yet. Spending the day in a wheelchair made divorce inevitable. The wedlock that was built with beautiful hopes, must be destroyed.
"There’s no one to blame," she said in a muffled voice.
For years, Yuni spent only taking care of children and accompanying her nephew’s growth and development days. Without anything meaningful. But apparently again, God had other plans. Yuni who was born non-disabled started her struggle again to organize her heart and build self-confidence.
She believes God is The Utterly Just. The physical limitation she experienced actually whipped her to get up. She decided to start painting when she was 45 years old.
An old dream that had been buried, came back to her. Her mother reminded her at the time.
"You can paint. Why not do it again,” said Yuni repeating her mother's words.
Over time, donations from friends from junior and senior high school also came. Yuni started holding various types of paints, brushes and canvases. Including the canvas tripod which was intentionally designed by one of her friends. A disability-friendly tripod.
