Buleleng Northern Lights

Comic Strips on the Lontar Leaf

Puzzlle Beratan is a ‘kelurahan’ autonomous district belonging to Sukasada Sub-Regency of Buleleng Regency, famous for its traditional products made of silver. The district, known since Pre-WW II as a handicraft center of Buleleng Regency, is a popular site because of its geographical position near Singaraja where people make a living as civil servants, working in sea transportation and large plantations.

In Buleleng, there is an artisan who is an expert in making picture stories, or comic strips, on the lontar leaf. His name is Gusti Bagus Sudiasta and he was born in Bungkulan Village, Sawan Sub-district, on 13 September 1952. He is always busy making and drawing stories in the form of comics on the lontar leaf and creates a lot of works, such as Dronapati story, Senapati Salya, Ramayana, and Bima Swarga. He is also skilled in drawing rerajahan on the lontar leaf. Many collectors are fond of his works and include those from Australia, England, Holland, the USA, Italy and Germany.
Why is he interested in drawing stories on the lontar? Sudiasta explains his hobby started from his fondness for reading lontar. Then in the 1970’s, he became interested in writing a story on the lontar leaf with Balinese letter. This led him to writing picture stories like he does now.
The husband of Ni Made Rasmawati, who now lives in Banjar Jero Gusti, Bungkulan Village, often gets the first prize in lontar drawing, as organized by Listibya Bali and also at the Bali Arts Festival. Because of his loyalty in art writing and lontar drawing, he also received the Wijaya Kusuma award from the government of Buleleng Regency in 1986 and the Dharma Kusuma award from the government of Bali Province in 1988.
The most unique work that he has created is the picture story about the history of the Department of Information. This work consists of 450 sheets, written in Balinese letters, but using the Indonesian language. This work, made during the era of the Information Minister, Harmoko, is kept in Taman Mini Indonesia Indah, Jakarta.
Now, Gusti Bagus Sudiasta is the Head of Gedung Kirtya, the lontar documentation center of Bali, in Veteran Street, Singaraja. While taking care of thousands of lontars in his office building, he still has sufficient time to draw. He is in the process of working on the story of Bremar", taken from the story in old lontar.
According to him, it takes quiet a long time to create such a story. One sheet of lontar may be finished in 3 days, whereas one cakep (title) of lontar usually consists of hundreds sheets. (leo)