Meet Patriot Mukmin | Artist, Lecturer, and PhD researcher

We had the good fortune of connecting with Patriot Mukmin and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Patriot, why did you pursue a creative career?
It all started with curiosity and ended with a sense of feeling right.
Since I was little, I have always liked drawing and doodling. A typical school kid likes to choose a seat in the back row. However, many children also like to draw but do not become artists when they grow up. Another influential factor is my liking for thinking the opposite. Trying to see something from an alternative perspective. I like to find gaps between what people usually do and don’t. There, I try to do things that are not common because they can enrich the experience. And the art world provides a comfortable place for people who like to think that way.
However, regarding careers, we never know where the future will take us. I do everything step by step and brick by brick. In the early period of working as an artist, the capital was pure spirit and naivety to succeed in the art path. The result is the understanding that our artistic work often does not make money, especially at the beginning of a career. However, I also realized that my artistic work allowed me to open conversations with foreigners, establish intercultural collaborations, and travel across countries. Everything has its take and give. In the process, when we can overcome financial problems by meeting primary needs, we will enjoy every second of our creative work. The idiom ‘art is hard’ is widely understood by its practitioners. Fortunately, I feel a strong solidarity among fellow practitioners, wherever they are.
At that stage, I became more convinced to explore an artistic career.

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
My art is a sanctuary where I take refuge and preserve my memories of time and life.
The visualization is illusory, blurry, fragmented, and unclear, raising more questions than it answers. I want the audience to ask questions about my work, which will spark discussions. Many times, it is about important but difficult and sensitive issues.
My big agenda in life is to examine problems from various perspectives, from right to south, left to north, and in all directions. I collect worldviews to gain insight that can contribute to efforts to achieve a middle way or consensus. I believe art has the power to be a catalyst for these efforts. This theme is central to my current research that explores the artistic representation of Indonesian political struggles during the mid-Cold War (1955–65), examining post-colonial identity amid global ideological tensions that influenced the bloody events in Indonesia in 1965-66.
In practice, I use a multidisciplinary approach, including photos, videos, paintings, texts, installations, conceptual frameworks, and performative acts. All are adjusted to the context and ideas I want to raise in the work. This makes me enjoy the opportunity to do projects in new places and explore how to express new problems encountered.
For example, I am currently pursuing a PhD at VCA University of Melbourne. I allow myself to be exposed to the daily life and resources available at this institution, which seep into and are represented in my work. In addition, through this study, I managed to disseminate my work in international seminars such as Bandung to Berlin: Art, Decolonization, and the Cold War at Princeton University, USA, in 2024. I now have a more comprehensive idea of what the profession of a research artist is like.
Before the PhD program, I also participated in several residency projects, such as in La Rochelle, France (2023), Narita, Japan (2019), and Jeonbuk, South Korea (2016). I respond to social and historical phenomena in my area at every opportunity and present them in a solo exhibition project.
In addition, I also enjoy participating in various art competitions. Some of the awards I have won are the People’s Choice Award from the UMSU Art Prize 2024 at the University of Melbourne, the Artist Residency Prize from the Bandung Contemporary Art Award 2022, and the First Prize Bazaar Art Award 2011, Indonesia. In addition, there were also opportunities where I was a finalist, such as in the UOB Painting of the Year 2017 and the Indonesia Art Award 2015. This experience was a foundation in my artistic career, where art experts and audiences examined and appreciated my work in various awards.
The journey of art is not easy. It involves many types of work: not only (the most exciting) the skill and the creative one, but also the task management, archiving, money handling, publication, communication, and pouring hard, laborious hours of work into the making itself. In addition, artists must also be aware that an art career is a marathon, not a sprint that plays fast to the finish line. This work requires a long time, patience, and consistency.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
Let’s assume my friends have never been to Melbourne before. Then, I will take them to the city spine, Swanson Street, using all the modes of public transportation: buses, trains, and trams from my house in Brunswick West. We will visit many spots on that line from the Parkville campus of the University of Melbourne, Queen Victoria Market, and the State Library of Victoria. Then, we will walk down the street further South, where we can shop in many souvenir and food stores. At the Flinders Street Station area, we will stop by ACMI to enjoy the history of screen culture in Australia and NGV, the most important art institution in this state. Then, I will invite them to chill at my studio at Unimelb Southbank Campus, The Stables VCA, and introduce them to the awesome artists and teachers there.
After playing around in the CBD, I will take my friends to wander further to the Northeast, where we can enjoy nature and old culture in two nearby places: Tesselaar Flower Farm and Montsalvat Arts communities. These two places provide a break from the hustle and bustle of city life and offer a natural and cultural atmosphere that is reflective and meditative.
In the South, we can enjoy the beaches, from Brighton, which is popular for its beach boxes, to Sandringham, Half Moon Bay, where we can admire its coral rocks. Whether you want to swim or have a picnic and take pictures, everything is always a good idea.
For the foodie minds, this city offers a range of international cuisines. For breakfast, The Village Bakery serves the best pastries in Brunswick West. To have lunch, 1915 Halal Lanzhou Noodle Emporium will fill our tummy with its delicious, meaty, spicy, and brothy noodles. In the afternoon, we can have burek, a Lebanese snack, in many CBD stores. For dinner, I will take my friends on several occasions to different tasty restaurants such as Indonesian food D’Penyets on Lygon Street, A1 Al-Baik – The House of Mandi on Sydney Road, and Albion Pizza to try their huge and mouth-watering Chicken Parma.
Melbourne is not complete without exploring its coffee. Three places that I would recommend are Little Cardigan in Brunswick because the coffee is fragrant with a frothy but balanced texture, Blue Doors in the CBD because it comes from Bandung, my hometown, but is adaptive to the Melbourne coffee culture, and lastly, the 711 coffee machine in Northcote, which I said was the most delicious convenience store coffee I tried here, haha.
If there is still time, I will take them to small towns in outer Melbourne, such as Ballarat or Bendigo. My experience there was memorable because it took me back to a time when the world was still more isolated and each city was busy with its own life.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
Family where I came from: Ayah, Ibu, Yu Muti, Yu Rani, dan Puput
My wife and two sons: Augi, Birru, and Tobi.
Parents in law: Papah dan Mamah Alm.
My late Grandparents.
My nieces, nephews, in-laws, aunties, uncles, and cousins.
The FSRD ITB, SMA 34, MTS 3, SD CBI, and TK Melati families have taught me who I am today.
My mentors: Irma Damajanti, Lisa Radford, Wulan Dirgantoro, Danny Butt, Tisna Sanjaya, Asmujo Irianto.
Indonesian art world and collectors of my art (that I know): Melani Setiawan, Aan Andonowati, Konfir Kabo, Resika Tikoalu, Jill Morgan, Bagus Nugroho, TH Chiam, Cosmas Gozali, Tom Tandio, Dafi Alfadila, Eddu Enoary, Lily Joenoes, Irma Noegroho, Lina Hidayat, Kang Amas, Angga Artmandor, Anto Santana.
The Gerilyas: Zico, Rega, Irfan, Indra, Doni, Sigit, Wibi, Alin, Tandia, Ntin, Mika, Baim, Chita, Dian, Immar, Ambar, Disti, Mawar, Riki.
The inspiring Gurus: Prof. AD Pirous, Dr Yustiono
Beasiswa LPDP and Angkatan PK 201
Comrade-in-arms: Caitlin, Ferry Fauzi, Adhi Satrio, Koxis, Awe, Akshatha, Eliza, Aul, Leo Purnomo, Lewis, Jeremy, Jarrad, Kimung, Danuh, Mia.
Sobat Perang Sambelz and Father-father
VCA family
Off-shore buddies: Gahye Kim, Mari Takemoto, Louis Guillaume
Books: John Berger’s Ways of Seeing, Sanento Yuliman’s Dua Senirupa, Benny H. Hoed’s Semiotik dan Dinamika Sosial Budaya, Ferdinand de Saussure’s Course of Linguistics, Daniel Chandler’s Semiotics: The Basic, Paul Arden’s Whatever You Think Think the Opposite.
Friends and relatives who have helped my career in the art world.

Website: https://www.behance.net/patmukmin

Instagram: @patriotmukmin

Linkedin: Patriot Mukmin

Image Credits
Patriot Mukmin, Satriyo Kurnia Wibowo, Astrid Mulders, Jesse Deng, ArtSociates