Art as Life

One of the things that was a surprise to me about Bali was how heavily populated it is. It’s a small island but has a population of about 3 million plus another million or so visitors who turn up every year. The tourism industry is a huge part of the economy and also fuels the explosion of artistic creations and creators, as does the culture of making offering to the god, spirits and ancestors.

With so many people dependent on the industry, one can well imagine the devastation the people of Bali felt when the bombings happened in 2002 and 2003 and the visitors stopped coming.

I went on a tour up to the north of the island one day and was struck by how rich it is. Everything grows there. So many different fruits and vegetables, gorgeous rice fields and terraces, coconut palms, even vineyards. Bali has its own wine industry. Mango, papaya, banana, coconut, passion fruit, melons, oranges, rambutan, pineapple, snake fruit (a new one for me - has a rind like a snake's skin). Bougainvillea, hibiscus, ginger, it's all there. Along the side of the roads are fruit stands with offerings beautifully presented like works of art. I stopped to take this picture which cost me a lot of money. I felt compelled to actually buy something and came away with 6 passion fruit and two mangos - at "tourist prices".

What I really liked about the people of Bali (among many other things) is how they recognized and celebrate all this beauty and abundance. The fruits and flowers are part of the daily rituals and offerings to the spirits and the gods. The beauty becomes part of the art, part of everyday life. Little offerings on woven leaf containers are left everywhere. If they are on the ground, they are offerings to the bad spirits - up higher, to the good spirits. But one is not better than the other as the good and the bad are part of the whole. A yin and yang concept. The Balinese spend a great deal of time and money on their offerings and celebrations. It is life.

Driving around Bali I just couldn’t get over the extent of the artistry. Every village has shop and workshops dedicating to the visual arts – fabric, painting, stonework, wood carving, jewellery making. Some villages specialize in a particular craft and I spoke to several artists who are continuing what they learned from their fathers and grandfathers. Everyone in Bali appears to be an artist. Even the cook at the Rice Field Villa managed to sell me one of the beaded purses she creates when not taking care of visitors.

Much of the art is created for the tourists or for export. I had to smile when passing through some of the villages which had carved and painted giraffes and cats and things – things you’d see in Pier 1. (I must have missed the Bali giraffes in my travels). There is art for everyone, even lots of Buddha images in this highly Hindu/animist country.

I loved the performing arts as well. In Ubud every night there is as choice of about 6 different dances being performed somewhere around town. One night I went to the Ramayama ballet being performed outdoors in the Ubud Palace under the stars. There was a large gamelin orchestra and a large cast of dancers in wonderful colorful costumes. I was sitting in a chair in the second row and as I waited for the performance to begin, quite a few people came to sit on the floor directly in front of the stage. One and a half hours to sit cross legged – no thank you.


One young backpacker came in to sit right in front of the stage – a young white guy with the most enormous tangle of dreadlocks piled high on his head, blocking the view for those behind him. What a riot! Deja vue, I had no idea that people still sported this kind of “coiffeur”. Nothing is new. So as it turned out any picture I tried to take of the performers either had this tall silhouette in front of them, or had to be taken from the waist up to cut him out of the shot. No matter, the music was enchanting and the dancers were wonderful. Apparently the performers are people from the village who show up to perform once a week or so. Amateurs in the sense that unlike the performers who do nightly shows in some of the large hotels, these people likely have day jobs. At one point I noticed a group of children walking alongside the plaza stage, through the door to the back. A short time later they appeared dancing around in monkey costumes. They were Hanuman's monkey army!



The music and the dance is mostly cherished and supported as part of the temple ceremonies and celebrations. On the last night we were there the moon was full – an important time in the Balinese calendar. On a drive that afternoon we passed several temples which were having large, important ceremonies to honor the full moon day. Lots of cars, people dressed up, many men dressed all in white and women carrying large offerings on their heads. Mostly women. There was one man carrying such an offering, which was unusual – our driver told us that the reason for this was because his wife was menstruating and not allowed inside the temple.



Later that night at the Rice Field Villa, as a huge, beautiful moon rose in the sky, reflecting its light off the flooded waters of the rice fields, we could hear way off in the distance the sound of singing. Later still, we went to sleep to a distant sound of the gamelin musicians somewhere far away past the fields and woods.


These wood carvings of the gamelin musician and dancers returned home with me. The wall hanging is a new acquisition from Bhutan.