Dadang Christanto is a graduate of the Indonesia Institute of the Arts, Yogyakarta. Since 1999, he has taught at the School of Art and Design, University of the Northern Territory. His art explores social and political issues in a wide range of media, including painting, drawing, performance, sculpture and installation. The sunflashes on the encrusted branches of this soaring sculpture suggest the wing movements of roosting metal birds. But the blade shapes are also like hands, lifted heavenwards by the dead tree so that they can touch the sky. Indonesian folklore, like many European fairy tales, imbues forests and trees with associations.
