Goenawan Mohamad (GM),was born in 1941 in Batang (Central Java). He lives and works in Jakarta. He is a celebrated Indonesian poet, writer and philosopher. During his academic journey, he studied at notable  institutions such as the University of Indonesia (Jakarta), Belgian College of Europe (Brugge, Belgium), and Harvard University (Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States of America). Despite many regime changes in Indonesia, GM has consistently produced critical works and received wide acclaim in its role as a public intellectual. The epithet was recently given to him as an ‘intellectual giant from Asia’. He is very well known for his special column in the Tempo magazine which he filled in regularly—since the mid-1970s—for about half a century.

Since 2016 GM has been actively drawing, painting and exhibiting his works very productively. ARTJOG invited  GM, acknowledging his talent as a visual artist regardless of his age. The collection of pictures we exhibit is the ones he did last year. GM presents dozens of quirky drawings and prints in two Kitab Hantu (Books of Ghost), accompanied by their trademark humorous and ironic texts. Imaginative depictions of Indonesian ghost motifs are also displayed as murals.

Meanwhile, the video shows GM involved in the printing process with Devfto Printmaking Studio group in Campuhan, Ubud (Bali), which was initiated by a graphic master, Devy Ferdianto. This exhibition is precisely described as a census of Indonesian ghosts, providing a comprehensive representation of these supernatural beings.