"Notes From the River: Tales of Kriyan"

Video and Found-object Installation.

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Ecological degradation related to rivers is occurring in many places, including in Yuga’s hometown of Cirebon, West Java. The river streams are polluted by industrial and domestic waste. This situation is particularly ironic, considering Cirebon was once a maritime city where rivers played a vital role in daily life and urban development.

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This long-standing relationship between the river and its people has given rise to various myths—one of which is the legend of the white crocodile in the Kriyan River. The white crocodile is said to be the transformed spirit of a son of Sultan Sepuh Syamsudin Matawijaya I, cursed for disobeying his parents.

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Building upon this existing myth, Yuga constructs a new narrative that speaks to ecological preservation. The white crocodile becomes a threatened subject—endangered by the destruction of its ecosystem. Yuga employs the phenomenon of trance possession (kesurupan) as a performative method to deliver the crocodile’s concerns and anxieties.

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In this work, Yuga uses video and found-object installations. He positions myth as a form of knowledge—something worth revisiting and reflecting upon in today’s context, while simultaneously offering a gesture toward its musealization.