Yosep Arizal born in East Java (1991) and lives in Yogyakarta. He graduates from Indonesian Institute of the Arts majoring in Fine Arts. He uses various mediums in his works such as paper, wood, leather, and others . He is also interested to curatorial a practice and writing on arts. He has been working with text or narratives of the past to be part of his artistic works. He has participated in National Art Exhibition in Batu East Java (2018), and Nandur Srawung at Yogyakarta Art Center.
Yosep presents a work showing an appropriation of Javanese primbon (divination manual) written in Pegon script. Yosep found the untitled book in his house in Lumajang, East Java. Some parts of the book are similar to Serat Centhini which compiled the knowledge on Javanese sexuality. In the found primbon, there is a 15-day calendar system which explains 15 parts of a woman’s body that need to be touched on particular days prior to making love. Just as other primbon books containing the knowledge on sex, the primbon responded by Yosep was written by employing the male gaze to talk about women’s body. Yosep intervenes at that very point, composing a new book which reversedly positions men as the object of gaze. Yosep creates a counter narrative against the mainstream narratives on sexuality.
