Nguntun

“Untun kecap pagawéan murilken dua utas tambang beunang nguntay sapaya ngahiji sarta leuwih kuat; buuk diuntun buuk awéwé nu panjang dipuril puril n.k.ngambay jadi hiji saperti buntut; ting. untay sinting, lanten, anyam, batek; wawangsalan: teu beunang diuntun tipung, teu beunang ditambang béas, teu kalaksanakeun (laksa)”– R.A. Danadibrata Sundanese Dictionary The word nguntun or untun becomes very close to my childhood. Long before recognizing the word kepang or braid, nguntun always brings my memory of when my mother splits the hair group on my head into three parts. Then, those parts hooked each other until they formed a braid. That’s one of my memory of daily life interactions in my childhood with my mother. It impulsively comes back once I try to reinterpret the definition of no interaction. When I was younger, I wasn’t communicative with my parents –even tend to be psychologically distant. Many memories in my past closed as time goes by and that is my coping mechanism process.

For me, the activity of braiding hair is very personal. Either between mom and I, or me with someone else. When we pull our hair, we touch one of the parts of the body that are closest to humans. Fingers will record the texture and sensation when touching the hair. The guide of making braid can also be recorded by a memory of our fingers. Inspired by the memory of nguntun, I present an interaction space in the work of “Nguntun”. There are two types of interactions present in this space,

first is an indirect interaction between me with an audience, which is built through a small piece of paper containing 4 drawing panels of how to braid hair. And the second one is the direct interaction between human fingers and hair, which is formed through the activity of braiding the hair itself. “Nguntun” wants to open up space memories and discussions triggered by hair braiding activities during work displayed. This work is conditioned to continue to grow (or even change) in the period of the work’s appearance as it progresses