Land Purification Commission: Sunning The Earth As An Ecological Decolonial Practice In Ceramic Arts

Abstract

This article examines Komisi Pemurnian Tanah: Menjemur Bumi as a practice-led artistic research that responds to the extractive history of sugar factory industries in Yogyakarta, particularly Kasongan, which has left chemical residues in the soil since the colonial era. The research aims to reinterpret ceramic practice as a decolonial ecological gesture by positioning soil not merely as raw material but as an ecological body carrying historical trauma. The study applies practice-led research methodology combining material experimentation, performative repetition, and symbolic installation strategies. Clay sheets were manually twisted and dried on sugarcane stalks, symbolically reversing colonial agricultural hierarchies. The work was expanded through textile-based textual statements addressing soil contamination as a collective commission. Findings indicate that ceramic practice can function as a critical medium to reveal ecological wounds embedded in material history. The novelty of this research lies in reframing purification as a symbolic act exposing inherited environmental trauma rather than technical restoration. The study contributes to expanding discourse on ecological art, decolonial aesthetics, and material-based research methodologies.