Rakyat Pasti Menang

Ibraaz presents an exhibition by Taring Padi, an Indonesian collective of art workers founded in Yogyakarta in 1998 by a group of progressive art students and activists. 

Rakyat Pasti Menang, Bahasa Indonesia for ‘the people united will never be defeated’, brings together major works and archival material from the collective’s nearly thirty-year history.  

The exhibition takes its title from the protest chants heard during the sociopolitical upheaval that accompanied Indonesia’s Reformasi movement in the late 1990s. Rooted in the historical moment from which Taring Padi emerged, the phrase continues to resonate today, demonstrating how the collective has carried its spirit of solidarity and resistance into new political and cultural contexts. 

The show will unfold over a series of changing displays featuring Taring Padi’s large-scale banners. Alongside these presentations, workshops centred on the collective’s practices of puppetry and printmaking, together with a public programme of talks and activations, will explore their approach to art as a tool for political education, collective authorship, and mobilisation. 

Hosted in the Majlis, a space central to Ibraaz’s vision of dialogue and exchange, Rakyat Pasti Menang reflects a shared commitment to culture as a site of collective imagination and social transformation.