Haunting History: The art and (life-) writings of Mia Bustam and Katharine Sim

In this paper, I will explore the feminist model of life writing in the autobiographical accounts of two female painters, Mia Bustam (1920-2011) and Katharine Sim (b.1913-unknown), reading their writings against the national and postcolonial narratives of ‘great art’ in Indonesia and Malaya respectively. Both artists held ambivalent positions in the canonical art histories despite leading exceptional lives; Mia Bustam’s political position as an advocate for socialism complicated and delayed any formal recognition of her participation in Indonesia’s anti-colonial history while Katharine Sim’s status as a privileged colonial artist belonged to “no-man’s land”, her contribution subsequently misrepresented as a ‘native’ painter in nationalist art histories. Haunting history, their writings serve as a form of historical truthfulness that is both confessional as it testimonial. As women’s discourse, they offer an alternative perspective to the oft-cited canonical male-centred narratives, destabilizing how they have been remembered and positioned. 

Part of the Art History Seminar Series, convened by Mary Roberts, and presented by the discipline of art history at the University of Sydney, with support from the Power Institute.

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