'Please Bring Him Back Safely'

An unexpected visit to Cu An Kiong Temple in Lasem, Central Java, regarded as one of the oldest Chinese temples on the island of Java, led Meliantha Muliawan to discover fragments of her family history that had never been shared with her before.

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The temple’s main altar is dedicated to Tian Shang Sheng Mu, the Chinese goddess of the sea, a figure previously unfamiliar to the artist. Unlike the temples she had encountered before, the statue of the goddess is concealed behind a curtain, preserving the sacredness of her presence. One visual detail that stayed with Meliantha was the pattern of the temple’s floor tiles, which she observed as she bowed her head to pray.

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The name Tian Shang Sheng Mu later stirred memories in her parents, bringing forth stories of their ancestors. They spoke of how their Chinese forebears had crossed the sea to settle in Indonesia, and of how Meliantha’s grandfather had worked as a fisherman. In the past, her parents would invoke the goddess in their prayers, asking for her grandfather’s safe return from his journeys across the sea. Through this name, a forgotten connection between the family, the sea, and their ancestral past began to resurface.

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As later generations grew distant from the sea, the stories of Tian Shang Sheng Mu gradually faded, along with the memories of the grandparents and ancestors who once held these beliefs close. What had once been part of the family’s everyday prayers became a fragment of a past that was no longer fully understood.

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This work emerges from Meliantha’s desire to remember her ancestors and reconnect with a history that has nearly disappeared. By revisiting stories that were seldom passed down, she seeks to restore their presence in the present; not by recovering a complete history, but by giving space to the fragments that remain.