The Balinese Writer - Cok Sawitri

Acclaimed Balinese writer, choreographer and director, Cok Sawitri shares a glimpse into her childhood, how she became a writer, and the philosophy behind her incredible works.

On Becoming a Writer…
I began writing when I was very young. It was normal because my family were all artists. But I never thought that I was going to be a writer. When I was in primary school I wanted to be an ambassador so that I could travel around the world.
In middle school, I became the editor of my school publication and at times when there were no articles to publish I had no other choice but to write. So, when I got to senior school, I started a publication for students and this experience taught me what it was like to be an editor.

When I was young my family never praised me for my creativity or achievements. It was really hard to get them to clap their hands for me. It wasn't because they didn't care, but because they were artists themselves they thought what I was doing was normal.

One day, I decided to enter into a poetry reading competition. That was the first day I realised I must have been good at something.

I never really studied literature, I studied politics instead. The man who pushed me to write poetry is Pak Umbu Landukarandu. He said to me "Cok, can you send me your poetry". He begged me. I was never confident in myself or about my own poetry, his appreciation helped to encourage me.

On Childhood and Influences…
I don't really have any specific influences. I am really close with all of my family. We are all very close, and get along well. I often think that I am not suitable to be an artist, because I often feel like artists need something inside, like anxiety or deep worries.

I was always really spoiled. So, it is not the artist internal anguish that drives me to write.

My parents where stage performers. I was always at the theatre with them. When I was young there was no such thing as backing noise or tracks, so my mother would pinch me to create the sound of a baby crying. I learned a lot from being around the theatre with them.

My family have never judged people based on what they look like. They always looked at people by who they are, what kind of books they have and if they are kind and caring. I was taught that this was the best way. I used to see interesting people, with different styles such as Rastafarians, long-haired musicians and so on, and think that they were fantastic. They made government workers look so normal. I was taught to see artists as special, because that's what my parents taught me.

On Philosophy and Technique…
What makes me want to write is mostly social. The first time I wrote, I was writing articles. It gave me a background in research. In theatre, I am more experimental. I don't believe that inspiration will drive you, you must use logic. There are no wild people on the stage. Wild is only in your head, you must learn to manage the wildness. If not, no one will want to watch you and your performance won't have any effect.

When I'm on the stage, I always put my priority to the concept. My writing is always linked to religion, but it's not religious. It's social, but with a well-researched reality. There are broader, often political meaning and awareness behind the stories. A lot of the stories I write, are referring to humanity, even if it seems as if I am talking about women.

Like the story about Pembelaan Dirah (Dirah's Defence), it originated from the story of Calon Arang, but I created it as a type of monologue with a four-phase experiment. The concept of my story represents my belief that disharmony is actually harmony. What I try to tell everyone is to look at what's happening on stage as an incident where an innocent woman has become a scapegoat for something that she wasn't responsible for. I wanted to make the audience think objectively, to question why this woman became the scapegoat.

So, within my thoughts, the art, literature, and poetry is not supposed to differentiate between gender. My concepts move beyond gender. They are intended to represent humanity without restricting through gender.