Untitled, from the series Tut Wuri Handayani

For this series, the artist dressed himself in different costumes that investigate and criticize the varying social and power structures in contemporary and traditional Indonesian culture: the military, Islam, the tourist industry, and the royal court of Yogya. The obscuring of identity in these images, masked in comical or slanderous ways, renders the subjects elusive and unknown, but at the same time reveals them as pawns in the greater social order. Some are static portraits, while others show figures in actions on the brink of violence and chaos. Jim Allen Abel is a founding member of Ruang MES 56, and uses visual styles and directives often characteristic of performance, video, or installation art, such as tableau vivant, scenes or performances enacted solely for the camera.