Susi Johnston grew up in the Twin Peaks area of Seattle, surrounded by dripping rainforests, towering mountains and misty fjords. She earned a Masters in Art History from the University of St Andrews in Scotland after completing her dissertation on Tibetan Architecture. She then worked for Ogilvy & Mather advertising firm in London. Susi also received a wealth of informal education from her mother who is an architect. Susi has been studying, acquiring and selling Indonesian treasures since 1996. Today, with her partner Bruno, she runs Macan Tidur which specializes in old ceremonial textiles and artifacts of the Indonesian Archipelago.
What is the most vivid memory from your childhood?
Wanting to have the moon. I insisted that my father should get it for me, and was inconsolable for weeks because I didn’t get it.
What authors have influenced you greatly?
Rudyard Kipling. Herman Melville. I read Moby Dick five times. And Mahatma Gandhi’s autobiography still affects me. When I was twelve I stopped eating meat, which totally bewildered my parents.
Have you traveled to many interesting places around the world?
Many! Every place is interesting in some way. I particularly value the time I spent in Tibet in 1987, but have been afraid to go back there ever since because I don’t think I could face the changes that have taken place.
Why and how did you first become interested in Indonesia?
I was always firmly disinterested in Indonesia. I only found myself here in 1995 because one of my sisters was working in Bali and she insisted I visit. I was staying in Hanoi, and decided to appease her by coming. I planned to stay only two weeks, and have been here ever since. I didn’t choose Bali, it chose me. I caught Legionnaire’s disease the second week here, and my recovery took some time. By then, the roots of Bali had wrapped themselves so tightly around me I couldn’t get loose again.
Have you traveled extensively in Indonesia?
I get around. But Indonesia is so extensive, I wouldn’t be so bold as to say I’ve traveled it extensively. So far my favorite place to visit here is the island of Sumba.
What is so distinctive about the Macan Tidur Gallery?
Its uniqueness stems from our intentions. Bruno and I are more interested in beauty than in money. And in culture, history, mysteries and meaning. Those interests color everything we do, and I think it shows somehow in the artifacts we display in our galleries.
Where do you find the artifacts for the gallery?
That’s a trade secret!
Who, typically, are your clientele?
There are no typical clients for extraordinary things. It’s utterly unpredictable!
What’s the most bizarre request you’ve ever received?
There’s a collector in New York who only wants things associated with death. He was on my case to get funerary textiles, especially stained shrouds. Also bizarre was a client who commissioned a vast amount of massive furniture. Just as it was being finished he contacted us urgently. The Dalai Lama’s advance team was coming to stay at his house in Hawaii, and he needed the furniture installed before their arrival. He had us send it all by FedEx. Tons of furniture by FedEx? It’s madness! I felt like telling him the Dalai Lama would have advised him to use all the lavish money he spent on FedEx to alleviate suffering instead.
What’s the single greatest depository of Indonesian artistic masterpieces?
Indonesia itself. The masterpieces in collections here, and in the hands of dealers and traders, is tremendous. But there are still more masterpieces in situ, meaning the architectural and sculptural works of the past. I hope those are better cared for and studied in the future than they have been in recent times.
Do you have a personal favorite artist or artisan you have known or worked with?
Ketut Kenak. He’s a mask maker and temple carver from the village of Talepud. What a pure soul! His name means “healthy and well”. When he was a child both his parents and all his brothers and sisters fell ill one after the other and died. The villagers kept asking him, “How are you feeling?” and he answered, “Kenak-kenak,” and hence the name. His first wife died of influenza and his second wife died of Lupus. But Ketut is still kenak and still grateful to the gods for all of the blessings he has enjoyed in life. Despite such humble beginnings, he eventually found himself on a tour of Europe with a troupe of Balinese performers. He told me how he could not stop weeping when he went inside the churches and cathedrals of Italy, because he felt such a profound sense of sacredness and pure beauty. What a man. Every time I see him he’s got his shirt on inside-out with the buttons done wrong, and his glasses are held together with surgical tape, but he is smiling and working.
Do you also have a private collection?
I have no private collection. I am a conduit, not a collector.
From your years operating the gallery, what have you learned about people who have a fondness for Bali?
Too many of them are a bit superficial in their understanding or take too facile a view of Bali as it is now.
What have you personally gained from the experience?
A year-round tan and an addiction to tempe manis?
Is there anything that you would have done over again?
Worn a mask when handling old textiles and antiquities before they were cleaned. The mold spores can be deadly. They almost killed me a few years ago.
How may interested readers learn more about you and the work you do?
Visit my blog www.susijohnston.com, and our textiles website www.macantidur.com.
For anyone interested in being considered for Siapa, please contact: <pakbill2003@yahoo.com>
