This performance took place beside Baron Beach in Gunungkidul, Yogyakarta. The beach is being transformed into a tourist destination. Within the curatorial structure, I chose north-west as the symbolic direction. In Javanese cosmology, the north represents judgment, while the west signifies forgiveness. After nearly three weeks of residency and intensive field research, I came to believe that forgiveness and reconciliation begin when we recognize our deeds. Before the performance, I learned a word in Indonesian from the local team: “Gapapa,” meaning “It’s okay.”
Dressed in black, I sat beneath a tree. A small bell was tied to my right arm with a red string. At my feet was a red plastic basin filled with smooth stones I collected nearby, with a wooden washboard on top. Between two trees, I tied a rope and hung a cardboard sign that read in Indonesian: “Write down your confession. I will wash it for you.” Two sheets of white paper were hung up as examples, such as, “I can’t speak my mother tongue,” and “I threw cigarette butts on the ground.”

I invited people to write their confessions on paper using chalk. Although I could not understand Indonesian, I asked them to read their confessions aloud after writing. Each of us then chose a stone and scrubbed the written paper together on the washboard. The bells on my arms rang in rhythm with each movement. Throughout the process, I repeated the same phrase, “Gapapa. It’s okay.” We continued until the chalk words became blurred and unreadable. We then stopped, shook hands, looked at each other, and nodded in acknowledgment. I hung the washed paper on the rope to dry.
Participants included men, women, and children, all writing in Indonesian. The final interaction left the deepest impression on me. As the crowd moved on to the next performance site, a young man wearing glasses walked back towards me. After writing his confession, he translated it into English for me: “I keep a secret.” As we scrubbed the paper together and I repeated “Gapapa,” his eyes filled with tears. When we finished and faced each other, we both cried in silence. We embraced and said goodbye. After hanging his paper on the rope, the performance came to an end.