Denisa Svach

The Flip-Flop in the Road was created in response to the pollution and disorder I encountered in Yogyakarta. When I first arrived in Indonesia, I was shocked by the environment people lived in. Trash was thrown carelessly on the ground, waste bins were a rare sight, and littering was common, even from moving vehicles. Among the debris lying in the middle of roads were abandoned flip-flops, lost by motorcyclists, often left untouched for weeks. These forgotten sandals reminded me of lifeless bodies, discarded alongside heaps of waste.

As a statement that even discarded items deserve a more honorable end than simply rotting away, I performed thirteen happenings. At each site where a flip-flop lay, I buried it and placed a cross with a photo, marking its final resting place. I chose to focus on flip-flops because each has a unique character, evoking a sense of empathy and the story of its loss. The reasons for abandonment could be as simple as a mishap or the result of a tragic accident. For residents, these flip-flops are also a somber reminder of the devastating earthquake in 2006, when the streets were littered with them in overwhelming numbers.