Girls Pay the Bills: the Jakarta Collective Empowering Women and Girls in the Arts
Girls Pay the Bills is a collective of women and girl artists from Jakarta, Indonesia, who work to empower this community in the local art system so that they can define themselves as artists while paying their bills. Currently, Girls Pay the Bills is exhibiting at the 2024 Jakarta Biennale with a group show titled Sharira, a new iteration of an exhibition by the same name previously shown in March 2023 at Cemara 6 Gallery, Jakarta.
The exhibition focuses on how women's and girls' multifaceted experiences are felt and held in their bodies. It also explores all the different ways they have learned to cope and create an environment where they would otherwise not feel safe in their bodies. This is why the work that Girls Pay the Bills does is aligned with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal of Gender Equality.
Six young women artists are participating in the 2024 Jakarta Biennale edition of Sharira, namely Aulia Murid Sasongko, Poppy Indah, Shavira Mada, Intan Anggita Pratiwie, Labaika and Ressa Rizky Mutiara. The visceral exhibition begins with Aulia Murid Sasongko’s Membara II (On Fire II), a mixed-media installation consisting of two drawings of a woman wailing out on pieces of fabric that have been cut in half, joined together only by pieces of thread. The piece is meant to showcase how women’s rage, anguish and other negative emotions are often repressed by society, a social norm that causes great mental distress.
A study from 2021 found that globally, women are 6 percent more likely to be angrier than men, mainly due to society’s tendency to dismiss the experiences of women and girls. This includes the dismissal of everything from miscarriage, giving birth, sexual violence, and many more, as more often than not, in the aftermath of these experiences, women and girls are expected to continue with their lives as if nothing had happened.
Another standout piece is a painting titled The Truth Seeker by Poppy Indah Yanuar. The surrealist piece shows the same woman being painted three times in three different spaces; the first woman is outside, lost in thought and has breakfast in what looks like a chic café. The second woman is inside, in a room that could be a bedroom or a bathroom or perhaps she is in the first woman’s thoughts. This woman stares at the audience while in the nude, her expressions stern, commanding respect. Meanwhile, the third woman seems to be the subject of a close-up painting hanging on the second woman’s wall, her eyes meeting the audience straight on.
The exhibition text explains that The Truth Seeker is Yanuar’s reflections on the conflicting thoughts that often swim in women’s heads regarding their worth. These thoughts pose questions such as “Am I worth more clothed or naked?” or “Do people care if I have done my laundry? Am I worth less if I haven’t done my laundry?” These are society’s judgments internalized by women and girls, causing them to associate their self-worth with often mundane or irrelevant things. Yanuar also wishes to highlight how this causes them to compete with themselves and other women and girls. Hence, The Truth Seeker ultimately asks women and girls to "just be", as despite what anyone including themselves, might say, they are perfect in their imperfections.
Girls Pay the Bills powerfully champions Indonesian women and girls' voices, using art to confront societal norms that often confine or dismiss their experiences. Through the visceral works in their Sharira exhibition at the 2024 Jakarta Biennale, the collective showcases women's deep, complex emotional lives, from anger and vulnerability to self-worth and resilience—all held within their bodies. By encouraging women and girls to define their identities and confront social expectations freely, Girls Pay the Bills helps to foster a world where women’s voices are genuinely valued.
Find out more about Girls Pay the Bills and their initiatives on their Instagram @girlspaythebills.