Srikandi

Title: Srikandi
Creator: Unidentified artist
Subject: Mask
Culture: Javanese
Medium: Painted wood
Format: 6 11/16 x 5 3/16 x 4 1/2 inches; 12 x 13.2 x 11.5 cm
Description: Srikandi is one of Arjuna’s wives who is known for her prowess in the battlefield. Like Arjuna, Srikandi is a formidable hero and highly skilled in archery. For this reason, Srikandi often became the symbol and role model of powerful and modern women in Indonesia. In its original Indic version, Srikandi is also known to inhabit both feminine and masculine gender identity as she changed her sex and became a male Srikanda after she was banished by his father, King Drupada of Panchala. In Javanese wayang, however, Srikanda remains a woman but is widely celebrated as an equal warrior to Arjuna and the rest of the Pandawa Brothers. Srikandi’s name is often evoked when discussing topics of female empowerment and social justice. In 2012, an independent documentary film, Children of Srikandi, reframes this larger than life character as queer to depict the lives of eight LGBT women in Indonesia.
Provenance: Gift of Benedict R.O'G. Anderson
Rights: Collection of the Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art. Coll. no. 98.145.024