Mother, in the Remnants

Part 3 of 3 · Mother Earth Trilogy. Starting from Mother's Lament, then Mother's Silent Threshold.

This series reaches its conclusion. From Mother's Lament still crying in silence, to Mother's Silent Threshold that chose to be silent, now Tientus Sudarto — DIAZ Friend — brings the same figure to its final point through his third work, Mother, in the Remnants.

The body that once cracked now crumbles entirely. The wings that spread behind it are no longer feathers, but a tangle of veins and fibers that are tattered and blown by the wind. Half of the lower body has merged with the earth — unraveling into dry, tangled roots that are torn and full of holes, as if part of it has been forcibly taken. The earth where it stands is also cracked by the same dryness that spread through its body in the two previous works.

Yet amid this collapse, one of its hands still reaches toward the sky — its fingers writhe like branches, but still extend. Not a movement to survive, writes Tientus, but a final gesture so that its existence does not disappear entirely without being witnessed.

Here is the poem that accompanies this work:

Mother, in the Remnants

She no longer laments, nor stands at the silent threshold.
Mother remains, between a crumbling body and torn roots that struggle to grasp life.

Part of her body has been taken by hands that name destruction as a need that may be exhausted.
Hands that forget that Mother's love was never asked for, only given.
And the earth she leans on begins to crack from indifference, from steps that pass without ever wanting to know, without shame.

Yet in these remnants, Mother still holds her last breath in the gap of wounds.
Not to live, but to make space so that She is remembered before truly disappearing.

— Tientus Sudarto

Three works, one same journey: from a wound still seeking ears, to a wound that chose silence, to a wound that barely leaves anything to be heard at all. Mother, in the Remnants does not close with easy hope — it closes with the simplest and heaviest request at once: that Mother, before truly disappearing, is remembered.

Work Specifications

• Media: Charcoal and coffee stain on A4 natural paper.
• Black color: charcoal from the remains of illegal logging wood, South Malang.
• Brown color: coffee stain.

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Mother Earth Trilogy

Three works by Tientus Sudarto read in sequence, from lament, to silence, to remnants:

1. Mother's Lament — a wound still seeking ears
2. Mother's Silent Threshold — a wound that chose silence
3. Mother, in the Remnants — a wound that barely leaves anything to be heard at all (this part)