Käthe Kollwitz’s artistic practice has been a large influence on many artists’ works. This exhibition has also been ‘sewn’ together with Käthe’s drawings which were never exhibited during her lifetime. We can see, through these drawings, how Käthe explores her skill, not only as a means to represent her feelings as an artist, but also the gestures which have their own emotion. Käthe was close with other members of her generation. In Berlin, she met with Tina Haim-Wentscher, whom we know through her replica of the Nefertiti bust. Tina, a sculptor who was of Turkish and Hispanic Jewish descent, had been making study trips with her painter-husband Julius Wentscher to Greece, Italy, Egypt as well as the islands of Bali and Java. During the course of her study, Tina made a bust of Käthe. When the Nazi’s took greater power during the start of the 1930s, Käthe advised Tina and her husband to not return to Germany. They travelled throughout Southeast Asia, before being exiled as ‘enemy aliens’ in Australia, where they lived for the rest of their life. In other editions of this exhibition, Tina’s bust of Käthe, is exhibited with two other sculptures, the portrait by Käthe herself (1926-1936) as well as Solidaritas 1 (2000) by Dolorosa Sinaga, at the Hamburger Bahnhof and the Nationalgalerie – Staatliche Museen zu Berlin. 

Dolorosa paid her respects to Käthe through her work, Homage to Käthe Kollwitz I, II (2000). This series of works was produced at the same time as her works, Solidaritas I, II, III. They also formed a part of her first solo exhibition in 2001. Dolorosa had been making works and exhibitions since the end of the 1970s, but she only had her first solo exhibition when she finished her teaching at the Jakarta Arts Institute, as a kind of landmark, a phase of her social responsibility.  Dolorosa’s first solo exhibition initiated a new chapter in her practice. That is, a firm statement of her affiliation with those who had suffered human rights abuses. One century after the friendship of Käthe and Tina, what attracted Dolorosa to Käthe? Sony Karsono, wrote in Dolorosa Sinaga: Tubuh, Bentuk, Substansi (Dolorosa Sinaga: Body, Form, Substance, 2020), that she positioned Käthe as her visual arts ‘spiritual mother’. In the spirit of war that was inculcated in German youth, Käthe pointed out that women were always positioned as ‘waiting patiently’. Female figures who are oppressed, subordinated, raped or killed are often present in Dolorosa’s works. She highlights as well as venerates these figures as a means of giving voice to the injustices and cruelty which has denied their existence. 

The saying, “blood is thicker than water” doesn’t resonate so well with the works of Käthe, Tina and Dolorosa. The three are unrelated, but all follow the same kind of spirit. Käthe cared for Tina so much that she advised her never to return to Germany. Tina’s trust, and that of her husband, meant that they changed the course of their life. Dolorosa’s sense of humanity, connected with Käthe through her artistic practice. That this connection is not based on familial connection is not important. But it shows the possibility of other kinds of kinship. If during a brief meal, we can be amicable with all those who are present, at least to enjoy the food that is offered, isn’t it possible that this amicability can be continued, managed and fostered?

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How do humans relate to one another? How are relationships carried out, defined, given meaning to? Some of the works in this exhibition, materialize familial relations in an almost literal manner; through blood relations. While, other works, present relations, between various aspects which are formed internally or with other characteristics which are enlivened on the inside. The ‘family’ is often referred to as a unit or small group within society at large. Gradual steps from general and literal familial relations towards relationships with oneself are an offering for the broadening of the definition of kinship. The internal search of a number of artists in this section of the exhibition, opens a path to consider the self as a plural social entity. Stating this plurality of the self, in these works, can be a first step in accepting difference, tolerance and diversity.