Dragging Stones (2023) - Philemon Mukarno

Dragging Stones: Philemon Mukarno’s Sacred Naked Performance on Queer Liberation and Spiritual Freedom

Understanding Dragging Stones as Queer Resistance and Spiritual Journey

Philemon Mukarno’s “Dragging Stones” (2023) represents a powerful embodied confrontation with religious oppression targeting queer individuals through radical naked performance art. During this transformative work, Mukarno crawls naked across the ground with large stones attached to his ankles by ropes. The heavy stones represent the cumulative burden of guilt, shame, fear, and violence imposed upon queer people by religious communities condemning their sexual orientation. The performance traces a complete arc—from initial struggle under impossible weight toward gradual liberation, eventually culminating in complete freedom. The work becomes living testament to queer resilience and capacity for spiritual transformation despite systematic oppression.

“Dragging Stones” emerges from Mukarno’s personal experience and artistic commitment to challenging religious systems perpetuating violence against LGBTQ+ communities. The performance speaks directly to queer individuals struggling under oppressive religious environments. Yet it also addresses broader audiences, inviting witnesses toward understanding the profound spiritual and psychological damage religious condemnation inflicts upon vulnerable beings. Through naked vulnerable embodiment and ritualized action, Mukarno transforms personal suffering into collective spiritual teaching. The performance becomes sacred ceremony honoring queer resilience while demanding that observers confront their own complicity in oppressive systems.

The Metaphorical Weight of Stones and Religious Burden

Understanding Stones as Manifestation of Oppressive Systems

Within “Dragging Stones,” stones function as concentrated metaphorical representation of invisible oppressive forces systematically imposed upon queer individuals by religious institutions and broader society. The stones embody weight, hardness, and immovable resistance—qualities characterizing the rigid systems constraining queer identity and expression. Each stone represents accumulated layers of oppression: generations of religious teaching linking queerness to sin, shame, and damnation; contemporary legal restrictions denying LGBTQ+ rights; social violence from family, community, and religious authority figures; internalized homophobia resulting from lifetime exposure to condemnation; psychological trauma from conversion therapy, rejection, and violence.

The specific choice of stones rather than other weights carries profound significance. Stones represent permanence and geological deep time—suggesting that oppressive systems feel eternal and unchangeable. Yet stones simultaneously erode gradually through water and time. This paradox suggests that seemingly permanent oppressive systems contain possibility of gradual dissolution through persistent resistance and spiritual practice. The stones’ hardness contrasts with the softness and vulnerability of flesh, visualizing the conflict between rigid oppressive structures and vulnerable queer bodies.

The attachment of stones directly to ankles represents how oppression becomes internalized and embodied. The weight doesn’t remain external but becomes integrated into the body’s being and movement. Queer individuals carrying oppressive burden cannot move freely; every action requires tremendous effort. The ropes connecting stones to flesh emphasize how oppression becomes literally inseparable from embodied existence. Cutting the ropes requires deliberate action and spiritual courage. The performance suggests that liberation demands active intervention rather than passive waiting for oppression to miraculously disappear.

The stones’ accumulation throughout performance also mirrors how oppressive burden compounds over lifetime. In childhood, queer individuals might carry lighter burden—questioning or discovering sexual orientation without full societal condemnation. Yet as they develop, oppressive weight increases—family rejection, religious condemnation, social violence, internalized shame all accumulating. By adulthood, the cumulative burden becomes almost unbearable. Mukarno’s crawling with increasingly heavy load visualizes this progressive accumulation of oppressive weight across lifespan.

The Ropes as Bonds of Religious Control

The ropes binding stones to Mukarno’s flesh represent the specific ties linking queer oppression to religious institutions and theological teachings. Religion provides ostensibly sacred justification for oppression—claiming divine authority for condemnation of queer sexuality. The ropes symbolize the particular difficulty queer individuals face when raised within religious communities. The faith often represents everything—spiritual foundation, family belonging, community identity, moral framework. Yet that same faith condemns their essential nature as queer beings. Breaking free from religious oppression becomes extraordinarily difficult because it simultaneously threatens spiritual identity, family relationships, and social belonging.

The ropes also represent indoctrination and internalized religious conditioning. Many queer individuals raised in religious environments internalize oppressive theology—believing themselves sinful, disordered, or worthy of punishment. These internalized beliefs operate similarly to literal ropes—constraining movement and possibility. The ropes become mechanisms through which oppressed beings police and constrain themselves. Breaking free requires not merely escaping external religious institutions but also confronting internalized religious conditioning operating within consciousness.

Yet the ropes also carry possibility of being cut. Unlike natural features of landscape, ropes represent human constructions capable of being severed. The performance suggests that religious control, while powerful, remains human creation rather than natural law. What humans created through theology and institution, humans can challenge and eventually sever. The performance models the courageous action required to cut ropes—recognizing them as constructed oppression rather than accepting them as inevitable or divinely ordained. The gradual progression of the performance suggests that liberation occurs gradually through persistent effort rather than suddenly through miraculous intervention.

The contrast between rope and flesh carries spiritual significance. The rope represents rigid control and constraint. The flesh represents vulnerability, sensitivity, and capacity for transformation. The tension between these opposite qualities becomes vehicle for spiritual inquiry. The performance asks how vulnerable flesh can survive being bound by oppressive rope. How can tender bodies endure such constraint? What spiritual resources permit queer beings to persist despite oppressive systems apparently designed for their destruction?

Sacred Nakedness as Vulnerability and Queer Resistance

The Exposed Body as Testament to Queer Courage and Authenticity

Mukarno’s complete nakedness in “Dragging Stones” establishes multiple layers of significance operating simultaneously. First, nudity represents maximum vulnerability—exposing the body without protection or mediation. By crawling naked while dragging oppressive stones, Mukarno embodies the extreme vulnerability queer individuals face when living authentically despite systematic oppression. The naked body cannot hide or protect itself. It remains perpetually exposed to potential harm and judgment. This vulnerability becomes artistic medium for communicating the raw reality of queer experience in oppressive environments.

The nakedness also challenges religious frameworks that often treat queer bodies and sexuality with particular condemnation and shame. Many religious traditions teach that bodies require covering, controlling, and suppressing. Queer sexuality becomes particularly condemned as sinful bodily expression requiring extreme constraint. Mukarno’s unapologetic naked presence reclaims the queer body as legitimate rather than shameful. The artist demonstrates that naked flesh can become site of spiritual authority and power rather than shame or degradation. The performance suggests that authentic spirituality emerges when bodies become honored rather than condemned.

The vulnerability of nakedness also invites audiences toward empathetic emotional response. Witnessing exposed vulnerability often triggers opening of emotional and psychological defenses in observers. The audience cannot maintain comfortable detachment when confronted with such naked vulnerability. They must either open toward empathy or consciously close themselves against it. This emotional demand becomes part of the performance’s spiritual work. Audiences are implicated in either perpetuating or resisting the violence represented by the stones. The naked body becomes invitation toward solidarity and compassionate witness.

The nakedness particularly challenges power dynamics typically operative in viewing performances. Conventional performance relationships often place audiences in position of power—observing from comfortable distance while performers expose themselves. Mukarno’s performance inverts these dynamics. The naked vulnerable body commands respect and ethical response. The performer maintains spiritual authority despite bodily exposure. Audiences become witnesses to sacred ceremony rather than consumers of spectacle. The nakedness transforms power relations, establishing vulnerability as source of authority rather than liability.

The Body as Microcosm of Queer Suffering and Transcendence

Within Mukarno’s artistic philosophy, individual bodies function as sacred microcosms containing both the suffering of systematic oppression and the spiritual potential for liberation and transcendence. The queer body becomes site where larger systems of oppression manifest concretely. The stones weighing the body down represent abstract oppressive forces made tangible. The suffering visible in the crawling movement communicates the lived reality of oppression through direct embodied perception. Audiences witnessing the performance perceive queer suffering not conceptually but through empathetic embodied response.

Yet the body also contains possibility of transcendence. Through ritualized embodied practice and spiritual commitment, the performer gradually liberates himself from oppressive weight. The body becomes vehicle for demonstrating possibility of freedom and transformation. The performance suggests that liberation emerges through engaging bodies directly—not through abstract intellectual debate or political argument but through embodied spiritual practice. The flesh becomes sacred instrument for manifesting spiritual transformation and queer freedom.

This understanding reflects spiritual traditions recognizing bodies as containing both oppression and liberation potential. Bodies represent sites where oppressive systems operate most directly. Yet bodies also become conduits for spiritual awakening and transformation. Mukarno’s performance honors the body as worthy of spiritual respect rather than treating it with shame or contempt. The queer body becomes recognized as sacred manifestation of divine consciousness capable of remarkable resilience and spiritual depth.

The body’s transformation throughout performance also visualizes inner spiritual changes difficult to perceive directly. As stones are gradually removed and burden lightened, audiences perceive corresponding changes in the performer’s physical movement and demeanor. The body becomes visible expression of internal spiritual liberation. What remains usually invisible—spiritual awakening, consciousness transformation, liberation from internalized oppression—becomes perceptible through changes in embodied presence. The body becomes text through which spiritual transformation becomes readable.

The Ritual Arc: From Oppression Toward Liberation

The Crawling as Performance of Oppressive Reality

The crawling movement in “Dragging Stones” carries multiple layers of symbolic and spiritual significance. Crawling reduces the body to basic locomotive function stripped of dignity or power typically associated with upright posture. By crawling, Mukarno embodies the humiliation and powerlessness queer individuals experience under oppressive systems. The crawl represents the forced lowering of queer beings—society’s insistence that queer sexuality renders individuals less worthy, less respectable, less human. The crawling becomes embodied performance of oppression’s violent intent.

Yet the deliberateness of the chosen crawl complicates simple victimhood narrative. Mukarno chooses to crawl—the action becomes deliberate decision rather than imposed force. This chosen vulnerability transforms its meaning. By voluntarily taking the position of the oppressed, the artist demonstrates spiritual courage. The performance suggests that authentic resistance sometimes requires taking positions of extreme vulnerability. The crawl becomes spiritual practice rather than merely suffering to endure. The artist transforms humiliation into sacred ritual.

The physical difficulty of crawling while dragging heavy stones becomes increasingly apparent as the performance continues. The body tires; muscles burn; breath becomes labored. This visible physical struggle communicates the cumulative exhaustion of living under oppression. Queer individuals cannot simply rest from oppression—it follows them continuously. Every action requires tremendous effort against invisible but constant resistance. The performance’s increasing physical difficulty mirrors the psychological and spiritual fatigue oppressed beings experience. The crawl becomes meditation on the relentless nature of systematic oppression.

Yet the crawling also demonstrates remarkable resilience. Despite enormous difficulty, Mukarno continues moving forward. The body persists despite overwhelming burden. This persistence becomes testament to queer resilience in face of systems apparently designed for destruction. The performance models spiritual practice through which oppressed beings survive and eventually transcend oppression. The crawl becomes sacred journey through darkness toward eventual liberation.

The Gradual Lightening and Increasing Freedom

A crucial dimension of “Dragging Stones” involves the gradual reduction of oppressive burden throughout the performance. As stones are removed or the weight somehow eases, the performer’s movement becomes increasingly less constrained. The increasing freedom becomes visible in physical transformation. The crawling becomes less labored; the body’s demeanor shifts; the spiritual presence intensifies. This gradual liberation visualizes the possibility of progressive freedom rather than suggesting liberation must occur instantaneously.

The gradual easing suggests that oppressed beings can chip away at systems of oppression through persistent spiritual practice and resistance. Complete liberation may not occur suddenly, yet meaningful progress becomes possible through sustained commitment. Many queer individuals gradually liberate themselves from internalized oppression throughout their lives. They slowly release shame, gradually build authentic identity, progressively develop self-acceptance. Mukarno’s gradual lightening honors this realistic process of liberation extending across years or decades.

The increasing ease of movement also represents growing self-acceptance and spiritual maturity. As oppressive weight decreases, the performer can invest energy previously consumed by merely managing burden toward genuine creativity and authentic expression. The performance suggests that freedom from oppression permits individuals to access their full humanity and authentic spiritual potential. Queer beings carrying lighter burden can express themselves more completely. The gradual liberation becomes precondition for full flowering of human possibility.

The visual evidence of progressive change also permits audiences to witness and celebrate incremental progress. Rather than waiting for complete transformation, observers can recognize and honor the meaningful freedom achieved throughout the performance. This honors real progress queer communities have made toward liberation while acknowledging that complete freedom remains goal requiring continued work. The performance models both the necessity of continued struggle and the reality of meaningful progress already accomplished.

The Final Liberation and Walking Freely

The culmination of “Dragging Stones” arrives when the performer completely frees himself from stones and begins walking freely. This moment represents the ultimate goal of queer liberation—living openly and authentically without fear or oppression constraining movement. The transition from crawling to walking marks profound spiritual transformation. The body stands upright; movement becomes easy; the performer can direct consciousness toward purposes beyond merely surviving oppression. The upright walking posture represents human dignity and full personhood previously denied.

Yet the liberation doesn’t erase the history of oppression. The performer carries memory of the stones and the crawling. The journey toward freedom remains part of the complete story. The performance suggests that liberation includes integrating and honoring the experience of oppression rather than simply erasing it. The queer being who has survived oppression possesses spiritual depth and wisdom unavailable to those who never experienced such constraints. The freedom achieved becomes more precious because of the oppression overcome.

The moment of liberation also becomes powerful symbol for audiences—particularly queer viewers carrying their own oppressive burdens. The performance models possibility of freedom and transformation. It suggests that queer individuals currently suffering under oppressive systems might eventually achieve freedom and authentic self-expression. The performance becomes beacon of hope offering possibility of liberation. For many queer viewers, witnessing the performer achieve freedom becomes deeply meaningful—suggesting their own liberation remains possible.

The final walking also invites audiences to imagine what queer world becomes possible when individuals walk freely without oppressive stones constraining them. What creative expression, spiritual depth, and authentic community becomes accessible when queer beings no longer consume all energy managing oppression? The performance’s conclusion suggests possibility of queer liberation extending beyond individual freedom toward collective community flourishing. The final image becomes invitation toward working collectively toward world permitting all queer beings to walk freely.

Religious Oppression and Spiritual Resistance

Exposing the Violence Within Sacred Spaces

“Dragging Stones” directly challenges religious institutions and theological frameworks perpetuating violence against queer individuals. Many religious communities teach that homosexuality represents sin worthy of punishment and condemnation. This supposed theological truth becomes basis for psychological violence, physical abuse, family rejection, and social discrimination. Mukarno’s performance exposes hidden violence embedded within religious traditions—making visible what often remains concealed beneath claims of spiritual guidance and moral teaching.

The stones themselves represent this hidden violence. The burden appears as external objects visible to observers. Yet many queer individuals internalize religious oppression so thoroughly that the violence becomes invisible even to themselves. They experience guilt, shame, and self-hatred as personal failure rather than recognizing it as consequence of oppressive religious teaching. The performance makes this invisible violence visible—suggesting that acknowledging oppression represents necessary first step toward liberation.

The performance also addresses the particular difficulty queer individuals face when raised within religious communities. For many, religion represents everything—the framework through which they understand existence, morality, and spirituality. Yet religion simultaneously condemns their essential nature. This creates profound spiritual crisis for queer beings. Some must choose between maintaining religious identity and accepting queer identity. Others attempt impossible reconciliation, trying to honor both dimensions of self within frameworks explicitly designed to condemn one for the other. The performance honors the extraordinary difficulty of this spiritual crisis.

The religious dimensions also address contemporary reality in many countries and regions where religious institutions actively work against queer rights and liberation. In numerous locations worldwide, conservative religious movements oppose LGBTQ+ equality legislation, support conversion therapy, and justify violence against queer people. Mukarno’s performance speaks directly to queer individuals suffering under these active religious oppression systems. The work becomes artistic resistance against continuing religious violence.

Yet the performance simultaneously suggests that authentic spirituality need not become oppressive. The work honors spiritual seeking while condemning oppressive institutions claiming spiritual authority. Mukarno suggests possibility of genuine spiritual practice honoring queer identity and supporting liberation. The performance models spirituality expressed through naked vulnerable embodiment—suggesting that real spiritual practice emerges through courage and authenticity rather than through institutional authority or doctrinal conformity.

Transforming Suffering Into Sacred Ritual

A crucial dimension of “Dragging Stones” involves transforming oppressive suffering into sacred ritual through which liberation becomes possible. Rather than merely displaying suffering voyeuristically, the performance ritualizes the experience. The organized structure, the deliberate actions, the intentional movement—all transform raw pain into ceremonial practice. This ritualization permits audiences and performer to engage suffering within contained sacred context rather than as unbounded trauma.

The transformation of suffering into ritual also draws from spiritual traditions recognizing pain and difficulty as potential vehicles for spiritual awakening. Many Buddhist and Hindu practices intentionally engage difficult emotional states or physical discomfort as pathways toward spiritual insight. Mukarno’s performance similarly suggests that engaging oppression directly and consciously through embodied ritual practice can facilitate spiritual growth and liberation. The suffering becomes meaningful—purposeful practice rather than merely endurance.

The ritual dimensions also create space where collective witness becomes possible. Unlike private suffering experienced in isolation, the ritualized performance invites audiences to participate in recognizing and honoring queer struggle. The community that gathers becomes temporary sacred assembly united around compassionate witness to embodied reality. This collective recognition becomes healing balm for individuals who often suffer silently and alone. The performance suggests that isolation intensifies suffering while community facilitates healing.

The ritualization also permits the performer to maintain spiritual authority despite embodying suffering. The crawling doesn’t appear as degradation but as intentional spiritual practice. The openness doesn’t seem victimization but conscious vulnerability undertaken for purpose. This maintains dignity and agency throughout the performance. The artist remains author of the work rather than merely object of oppression. This modeling of maintaining power and agency while acknowledging suffering represents important teaching for queer individuals learning to honor their experience while refusing complete victim identity.

The Power of Embodied Art as Agent of Transformation

Naked Performance as Direct Spiritual Communication

“Dragging Stones” demonstrates the particular power of naked embodied performance for facilitating consciousness transformation and spiritual awakening. Unlike intellectual arguments or abstract theories, naked embodied performance engages audiences’ entire being—body, emotion, spirit, and intellect simultaneously. The visceral impact of witnessing naked vulnerability combined with profound symbolism creates conditions for genuine consciousness shift. Audiences leave the performance altered—carrying changed understanding of queer oppression and possibility of liberation.

The nakedness also prevents audiences from maintaining comfortable psychological distance. Viewers cannot hide behind theorizing or abstraction when confronted with actual vulnerable naked flesh. They must either open toward empathy or consciously close themselves. This emotional demand becomes part of the performance’s work. The vulnerability penetrates psychological defenses, creating space for consciousness transformation. The naked body becomes most powerful communication medium available to artist.

The embodied nature of the work also honors queer experience as fundamentally bodily. Oppression operates directly on queer bodies through violence, discrimination, and social restriction. Queer resistance similarly operates through embodied action—asserting bodily autonomy, demanding bodily freedom, celebrating embodied sexual expression. The naked embodied performance speaks directly to this bodily reality rather than abstracting it into intellectual frameworks. The work communicates that queer liberation involves reclaiming bodies as worthy of freedom and celebration.

The performance also demonstrates that profound spiritual teaching can emerge through embodied artistic practice rather than requiring institutional religious authority. Mukarno becomes spiritual teacher through naked vulnerable embodiment. The performance communicates spiritual truths more effectively than sermon or theological text. This suggests that spirituality remains accessible outside religious institutions—available through art, embodied practice, and authentic vulnerability. The performance models alternative spirituality emerging through committed artistic practice.

Creating Community and Collective Witness

The gathering of audiences to witness “Dragging Stones” creates temporary sacred community united around recognition of queer struggle and commitment to liberation. Individual viewers become participants in collective ritual experience honoring queer resilience. The shared witnessing creates collective field of consciousness potentially facilitating consciousness transformation. Individuals embedded in collective spiritual community access consciousness unavailable through solitary experience.

For queer audience members particularly, the collective witness becomes profoundly meaningful. Many struggle in isolation, carrying oppressive burdens silently. Witnessing another queer being embody and confront oppression validates individual experience and confirms its reality. The collective recognition that others also carry stones becomes healing. The temporary community formed around shared understanding of queer struggle creates belonging and recognition difficult to find in broader society. The performance becomes sacred gathering where queer identity receives honor and celebration.

The collective witness also transforms meaning of individual suffering. Personal pain becomes recognized as social oppression rather than individual failure. The stones become understood as social systems rather than personal inadequacy. This shift toward collective consciousness permits movement from shame toward appropriate anger at oppressive systems. The community formation facilitates politicization of personal suffering—transforming private shame into public resistance.

The performance also creates space where allies and other audience members develop deeper understanding and compassion. Witnesses to the performance become implicated in responsibility—they cannot remain neutral when confronted with such naked truth. The collective gathering invites allies toward becoming active supporters of queer liberation. The performance becomes catalyst for expanding communities of solidarity extending beyond queer individuals themselves toward broader society.

Conclusion: Dragging Stones as Sacred Act of Queer Liberation and Spiritual Transformation

Philemon Mukarno’s “Dragging Stones” (2023) stands as courageous artistic statement about religious oppression, queer resilience, and possibility of spiritual liberation through embodied performance. The crawling naked body dragging heavy stones becomes powerful metaphor for queer experience under oppressive systems. The gradual liberation traces trajectory from suffering toward freedom. The complete transformation at the performance’s conclusion suggests possibility of authentic liberation despite systems apparently designed for queer destruction. The work honors both the difficulty of oppression and the remarkable resilience of queer beings who survive and eventually transcend it.

The uncompromising commitment to naked embodied truth distinguishes “Dragging Stones” from conventional activist art. The work doesn’t explain or theorize oppression but rather manifests it directly through vulnerable embodied presence. The pain becomes real; the struggle authentic; the liberation tangible. Audiences cannot dismiss or distance themselves from what they witness directly. The performance’s power emerges through its refusal of sanitized or comfortable representation. Instead, it offers genuine encounter with embodied queer reality requiring courage from both performer and viewers.

The performance also addresses urgent contemporary reality. Religious oppression of queer people continues globally. LGBTQ+ individuals face violence, discrimination, and legal restriction in numerous countries. Religious institutions actively work against queer rights in many regions. Mukarno’s performance speaks directly to this contemporary oppression. It validates suffering while suggesting liberation remains possible. The work contributes to necessary cultural conversation about religious freedom, LGBTQ+ rights, and authentic spirituality.

The exploration of spirituality through queer embodied performance suggests alternative frameworks for spiritual practice honoring both sexuality and spirit. The performance suggests that authentic spirituality emerges through courage, authenticity, and vulnerability rather than through institutional authority or doctrinal conformity. The queer body becomes sacred vehicle for spiritual expression. Queer liberation becomes spiritual work. The performance models spirituality celebrating embodied existence rather than demanding its suppression.

Through “Dragging Stones” and his broader artistic practice, Mukarno affirms the power of naked embodied performance for generating spiritual consciousness and social transformation. The vulnerable body becomes sacred instrument for accessing truth beyond ordinary understanding. The stones become visible representation of invisible oppressive systems. The movement becomes testimony to resilience and possibility. The collective witness becomes spiritual community supporting transformation. The performance leaves indelible impact—on individual consciousness, on cultural consciousness, on collective capacity for recognizing and resisting oppression. “Dragging Stones” endures as powerful reminder that queer liberation remains possible through courage, spiritual commitment, and authentic embodied practice.

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Primary Keyword: Dragging Stones Philemon Mukarno performance
Secondary Keywords: Queer liberation naked performance, religious oppression LGBTQ spirituality, embodied resistance performance art
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Title: Dragging Stones: Philemon Mukarno’s Sacred Performance on Queer Liberation and Spiritual Freedom