Indonesian artist Rully Shabara explores human language as both an experimental subject and a creative medium, through paintings, installations and the creation of a brand new language. Part of an ongoing body of work since 2012, his installation Khawagaka presents an archaeological display typical of a history museum. Khawagaka—which means ‘six teachings’ in Zugrafi language—refers to a set of spiritual tenets from the Wusa civilisation. Ancient Khawagakan manuscripts, written in the intricate Zugrafic script, are accompanied by an audio track that narrates selected legends excerpted from the documentary, Riwayat Wusa [Chronicles of Wusa]. Despite this thorough (and thoroughly convincing) presentation, Khawagaka exists only as speculative fiction: its annals and artefacts are fabricated, its script modelled on Javanese and Arabic, and its values distilled from a mix of global Indigenous cultures. Positioning Khawagaka as an AI-engineered civilisation inside a faux-museological setting, Shabara challenges the institutional politics that govern the preservation and circulation of Indigenous knowledge, while questioning the extent to which Indigenous communities’ digital world making can potentially disrupt these processes. Watch this Artist in Focus to hear the artist himself explore his process. 

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Director - @ward helal  
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