Latest news with #Kamasan
Sharjah 24
14-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Sharjah 24
Now streaming: Biennial Bytes season two
Biennial Bytes 2 kicks off with a conversation between the five curators of SB16—Alia Swastika, Amal Khalaf, Megan Tamati-Quennell, Natasha Ginwala and Zeynep Öz. Moderated by Hoor Al Qasimi, President and Director of Sharjah Art Foundation, the episode explores the synergies between curators' individual projects, the diverse formats in which audiences can experience the art at SB16, and how a Biennial can be a space of encounter and collective processing. Subsequent episodes spotlight specific works and projects presented at SB16 through conversations between individual curators and various participating artists, including Bint Mbareh, an artist and sound researcher working around songs of resistance in relation to land and water sovereignty in Palestine, and Joe Namy who sheds light on his collaborative approach to creating sound installations and performances. Yhonnie Scarce speaks about the historical context of nuclear testing on Aboriginal lands in Australia, and Tabu Osusa, founder of Singing Wells, dives into the group's decolonial mission to platform and preserve East African music, while Citra Sasmita talks about her collaboration with Kamasan maestra Mangku Muriati. Tune in to the podcast to listen to personal anecdotes and the stories behind their artworks. Other SB16 artists featured in the podcast are: Stephanie Comilang, Hellen Ascoli, Ana Iti, Naeem Mohaiemen, Pratchaya Phinthong, Adelita Husni-Bey, Mahmoud Khaled and Kapulani Landgraf. Convening under the title to carry, a multivocal and open-ended proposition, SB16 presents over 650 works by nearly 200 participants, including more than 200 new commissions. Exploring the ever-expanding questions of what to carry and how to carry it, SB16 is an invitation to encounter the different formations and positions of the five curators, as well as the resonances they have gathered. The Biennial runs until 15 June 2025 across several venues in Sharjah City, Al Hamriyah, Al Dhaid, Kalba and other locations in the Emirate of Sharjah. New episodes are released every Monday on Apple, Spotify, Anghami, Google and other podcast platforms.
Forbes
19-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Forbes
Discover This Artist Leading Bali's Feminist Visual Revolution
Into Eternal Land exhibition at The Curve, Barbican, in London Citra Sasmita's work boldly reclaims and reimagines Balinese cultural narratives through a distinctly feminist perspective. Rooted in her deep connection to her island's pre-colonial heritage, she challenges the commodified, tourist-driven image of Balinese art by reviving 15th-century Kamasan scroll painting traditionally practiced by men and infusing it with powerful depictions of real and mythological female figures, botanical symbolism and ancestral knowledge. Her practice spans painting, installation, textile and video, often incorporating collaborative craft traditions that are at risk of disappearing, such as embroidery with women artisans in West Bali. By intertwining mythology, resistance and ritual, Sasmita creates works that confront colonial legacies and patriarchal norms, offering a profound meditation on identity, history and the sacred feminine, with 'Into Eternal Land' at the Barbican in London marking her first solo show at a major institution. She's currently exhibiting all new works in 'Into Eternal Land' at the Barbican in London, which marks her first solo show at a major institution, as well as at the Hawaii Triennial until May 4, 2025 and the Sharjah Biennial, on view through June 15, 2025. As a self-taught artist, you started your artistic journey outside the traditional fine arts path. What drew you to art and can you tell us about your background, your family and how growing up in Bali influenced your practice? My family comes from a farming background, and my father was a chemistry teacher at a private school. The idea of becoming an artist was never part of my family's thinking. I once aspired to study at an art institution, but my late father did not support that idea, so I ended up studying physics. However, I have a strong interest and passion for creative thinking, and even though I studied science, I applied that creative mindset, especially in designing installations related to physics concepts. How I eventually stepped into the world of art was a very organic process, influenced by interactions with many artists and activists, which laid the foundation for me to use art as a medium to convey messages. On one hand, I believe that being born Balinese was a stroke of luck because I have been exposed to art since childhood, even though it can't be directly defined within institutional art references. The forms of art found in rituals, daily life and communal cooperation celebrate life through music, songs and decorations in rituals. These experiences have been my artistic deposits since childhood. Citra Sasmita, Act Three, 2024, from Into Eternal Land, The Curve, Barbican What made you decide to become an artist? My choice to become an artist today is an accumulation of memories and experiences that give me a vision. My creative process mirrors my cultural life; creating art is like planting rice seeds and nurturing them to grow, or preparing a ritual offering as a prayer for the safety and balance of nature. These simple concepts motivate my current artistic endeavors. You trained under Kamasan painter and Hindu priestess, Mangku Muriati. How did this experience shape your understanding of Balinese art, storytelling and spirituality? My encounter with Mangku Muriati began with my intention to study the trajectory of Balinese women artists, who have largely been overlooked in the discourse on art in Bali and Indonesia as a whole. This opportunity allowed me not only to learn about the art of Kamasan painting, but also to gain insights into Mangku's life lessons and experiences as both a traditional Balinese woman artist and a Hindu priestess, who has faced various challenges in terms of existence and ideology in her work. The work ethic and artistic principles of Mangku Muriati have significantly influenced my perspective on art as a pathway to personal growth and deeper access to knowledge. Spirituality is a discipline and emotional practice chosen by the artist as a way of life, enabling her artwork to resonate with the true purpose of art, which is to humanize humans. Citra Sasmita, Timur Merah Project XV: Poetry of The Sea, Vow of the Sun (detail), 2024, commissioned by Sharjah Art Foundation. Installation view at the Sharjah Biennial 16, Calligraphy Museum, Sharjah, 2025. Your work often reimagines Hindu and indigenous mythology and challenges traditional narratives. What draws you to these epic tales of love and romance, war and death, the journey to the afterlife, heaven and hell, and how do you reinterpret them for contemporary audiences? In the 'Timur Merah' project, the foundation of its narrative is rooted in literary legacies that have long been considered canonical, such as the Ramayana and Mahabharata. Bhima Swarga, for instance, tells a story of a journey from hell to heaven that is reminiscent of Dante Alighieri's Divine Comedy. This eventually evolves into a narrative that explores personal cosmology. The goal of the project is to position women as central figures, as many ancient texts and paintings traditionally depict male heroism, while women are often relegated to mere decoration and reproductive roles. Feminism serves as a bridge for understanding the symbolism and narratives of this heritage for contemporary audiences. Although this work draws upon traditional elements in terms of mediums and methods, it also has the agency to address current issues faced by women and broader humanitarian concerns.
CNN
18-02-2025
- Entertainment
- CNN
The artist giving centuries-old scroll painting a feminist twist
At first glance, you would be forgiven for thinking that the work of contemporary Indonesian artist Citra Sasmita was made hundreds of years ago. From afar, her embroideries and paintings could easily be mistaken for ancient scrolls depicting a vibrant and fantastical myth or legend. But look more closely, and you will see that Sasmita's art embraces a violent display of femininity that is unmistakably, and fiercely, modern. On large-scale traditional tapestries and Kamasan scrolls, Sasmita depicts an array of stories that defy inherited myths and tradition, instead imagining a post-patriarchal world populated entirely by women. In these images, the serene severed heads of female warriors sometimes sprout with the new life of trees, or take flight by transforming into birds, whilst others meditate, engulfed by red hot flames. Women's rebellion, transformation and rebirth are the themes that run through Sasmita's work, which turns traditional Balinese iconography on its head. Her new exhibition, 'Into Eternal Land,' is on display at London's Barbican. Split into a prologue, three acts, and an epilogue, it makes clever use of the art center's Curve gallery — a 90-meter-long (295-foot) space where her epic painted scrolls stretch into the distance, taking guests on a journey that manages to both embrace and defy tradition. 'I was really interested in exploring the root of patriarchal culture in Bali,' Sasmita told CNN of her Indonesian island home, during the exhibition opening. 'Much of our inherited literature, in our old manuscripts and the epics, portray women as only having a sexual function — especially in the Kama Sutra story and Panji Tales.' By rewriting these myths and replacing every man with a woman, Sasmita is 'rethinking the stories that are being told,' the exhibition's curator, Lotte Johnson, told CNN. 'They are not stories of domination. They are women having these incredibly visceral experiences in communion with each other.' In the fantastical images, modern ideas are brought to life through the cultural symbols that characterized Sasmita's upbringing in Bali. She explores the topics of ritual, heaven and hell, creating a new cast of characters for her own version of canonical legends and myths — now filled with representations of women's experiences. Much of Sasmita's practice can be characterised as a modern reimaging of traditional Balinese Kamasan paintings. Like shadow puppetry, Kamasan painting used the ancient epics and mythological stories as inspiration. Heralding from a village of the same name in east Bali, this painting style has been practiced since the 15th century. Traditionally, men chose which stories were illustrated and how they were painted, with women being consulted only on the choice and use of color in the final stages. Dr Siobhan Campbell, a scholar of Indonesian art and textiles, told CNN via email that like many cooperative art practices throughout Indonesia, 'there has traditionally been a division of labor based on gender.' Through her work in the Kamasan community, Campbell found that women's roles in the painting process has historically been downplayed. 'The most recognized artists in the past have been male and people have assumed that only men paint Kamasan scrolls,' Campbell explained. Speaking about her own use of traditional Balinese artistic practices, Sasmita said: 'I really like to make a dialogue between antique objects and the current material world. It becomes a certain language to bridge people from this modern context to the historical context.' Sasmita trained under the Hindu priestess and artist Mangku Muriati, one of the only women famous for inscribing her own stories onto Kamasan scrolls. From here, Sasmita committed to creating her own iconography of womanhood, one glaringly absent from traditional work. 'Bringing women into the main narrative of this artwork, making them the hero of my own story, this is my personal statement as a feminist,' she said. Her work also serves to reclaim Balinese art history. Sasmita sees the violent Dutch occupation of Bali in 1908 as altering the trajectory of Balinese art — transforming traditional practices into a commodity that could be sold to tourists. 'It changed the mindset from art as devotion, art made by the community for devotion, into something individualistic,' she said. 'When my generation was learning about art, we only learnt how to glorify Western artists,' Sasmita added. 'As a result, I didn't have a chance to find a book and learn about traditional Balinese artists, or about who the Balinese masters were.' Although this is her first UK solo exhibition, Sasmita's eyes are firmly set on the continuation of artistic culture back home, where she works closely with a traditional artistic community. 'I want our government to pay attention to the crafter and traditional artists. The way we inherit and maintain the knowledge is very strong,' she said. 'It is a national asset, and one that is very, very beautiful.'
CNN
18-02-2025
- Entertainment
- CNN
The artist giving centuries-old scroll painting a feminist twist
At first glance, you would be forgiven for thinking that the work of contemporary Indonesian artist Citra Sasmita was made hundreds of years ago. From afar, her embroideries and paintings could easily be mistaken for ancient scrolls depicting a vibrant and fantastical myth or legend. But look more closely, and you will see that Sasmita's art embraces a violent display of femininity that is unmistakably, and fiercely, modern. On large-scale traditional tapestries and Kamasan scrolls, Sasmita depicts an array of stories that defy inherited myths and tradition, instead imagining a post-patriarchal world populated entirely by women. In these images, the serene severed heads of female warriors sometimes sprout with the new life of trees, or take flight by transforming into birds, whilst others meditate, engulfed by red hot flames. Women's rebellion, transformation and rebirth are the themes that run through Sasmita's work, which turns traditional Balinese iconography on its head. Her new exhibition, 'Into Eternal Land,' is on display at London's Barbican. Split into a prologue, three acts, and an epilogue, it makes clever use of the art center's Curve gallery — a 90-meter-long (295-foot) space where her epic painted scrolls stretch into the distance, taking guests on a journey that manages to both embrace and defy tradition. 'I was really interested in exploring the root of patriarchal culture in Bali,' Sasmita told CNN of her Indonesian island home, during the exhibition opening. 'Much of our inherited literature, in our old manuscripts and the epics, portray women as only having a sexual function — especially in the Kama Sutra story and Panji Tales.' By rewriting these myths and replacing every man with a woman, Sasmita is 'rethinking the stories that are being told,' the exhibition's curator, Lotte Johnson, told CNN. 'They are not stories of domination. They are women having these incredibly visceral experiences in communion with each other.' In the fantastical images, modern ideas are brought to life through the cultural symbols that characterized Sasmita's upbringing in Bali. She explores the topics of ritual, heaven and hell, creating a new cast of characters for her own version of canonical legends and myths — now filled with representations of women's experiences. Much of Sasmita's practice can be characterised as a modern reimaging of traditional Balinese Kamasan paintings. Like shadow puppetry, Kamasan painting used the ancient epics and mythological stories as inspiration. Heralding from a village of the same name in east Bali, this painting style has been practiced since the 15th century. Traditionally, men chose which stories were illustrated and how they were painted, with women being consulted only on the choice and use of color in the final stages. Dr Siobhan Campbell, a scholar of Indonesian art and textiles, told CNN via email that like many cooperative art practices throughout Indonesia, 'there has traditionally been a division of labor based on gender.' Through her work in the Kamasan community, Campbell found that women's roles in the painting process has historically been downplayed. 'The most recognized artists in the past have been male and people have assumed that only men paint Kamasan scrolls,' Campbell explained. Speaking about her own use of traditional Balinese artistic practices, Sasmita said: 'I really like to make a dialogue between antique objects and the current material world. It becomes a certain language to bridge people from this modern context to the historical context.' Sasmita trained under the Hindu priestess and artist Mangku Muriati, one of the only women famous for inscribing her own stories onto Kamasan scrolls. From here, Sasmita committed to creating her own iconography of womanhood, one glaringly absent from traditional work. 'Bringing women into the main narrative of this artwork, making them the hero of my own story, this is my personal statement as a feminist,' she said. Her work also serves to reclaim Balinese art history. Sasmita sees the violent Dutch occupation of Bali in 1908 as altering the trajectory of Balinese art — transforming traditional practices into a commodity that could be sold to tourists. 'It changed the mindset from art as devotion, art made by the community for devotion, into something individualistic,' she said. 'When my generation was learning about art, we only learnt how to glorify Western artists,' Sasmita added. 'As a result, I didn't have a chance to find a book and learn about traditional Balinese artists, or about who the Balinese masters were.' Although this is her first UK solo exhibition, Sasmita's eyes are firmly set on the continuation of artistic culture back home, where she works closely with a traditional artistic community. 'I want our government to pay attention to the crafter and traditional artists. The way we inherit and maintain the knowledge is very strong,' she said. 'It is a national asset, and one that is very, very beautiful.'
CNN
18-02-2025
- Entertainment
- CNN
The artist giving centuries-old scroll painting a feminist twist
At first glance, you would be forgiven for thinking that the work of contemporary Indonesian artist Citra Sasmita was made hundreds of years ago. From afar, her embroideries and paintings could easily be mistaken for ancient scrolls depicting a vibrant and fantastical myth or legend. But look more closely, and you will see that Sasmita's art embraces a violent display of femininity that is unmistakably, and fiercely, modern. On large-scale traditional tapestries and Kamasan scrolls, Sasmita depicts an array of stories that defy inherited myths and tradition, instead imagining a post-patriarchal world populated entirely by women. In these images, the serene severed heads of female warriors sometimes sprout with the new life of trees, or take flight by transforming into birds, whilst others meditate, engulfed by red hot flames. Women's rebellion, transformation and rebirth are the themes that run through Sasmita's work, which turns traditional Balinese iconography on its head. Her new exhibition, 'Into Eternal Land,' is on display at London's Barbican. Split into a prologue, three acts, and an epilogue, it makes clever use of the art center's Curve gallery — a 90-meter-long (295-foot) space where her epic painted scrolls stretch into the distance, taking guests on a journey that manages to both embrace and defy tradition. 'I was really interested in exploring the root of patriarchal culture in Bali,' Sasmita told CNN of her Indonesian island home, during the exhibition opening. 'Much of our inherited literature, in our old manuscripts and the epics, portray women as only having a sexual function — especially in the Kama Sutra story and Panji Tales.' By rewriting these myths and replacing every man with a woman, Sasmita is 'rethinking the stories that are being told,' the exhibition's curator, Lotte Johnson, told CNN. 'They are not stories of domination. They are women having these incredibly visceral experiences in communion with each other.' In the fantastical images, modern ideas are brought to life through the cultural symbols that characterized Sasmita's upbringing in Bali. She explores the topics of ritual, heaven and hell, creating a new cast of characters for her own version of canonical legends and myths — now filled with representations of women's experiences. Much of Sasmita's practice can be characterised as a modern reimaging of traditional Balinese Kamasan paintings. Like shadow puppetry, Kamasan painting used the ancient epics and mythological stories as inspiration. Heralding from a village of the same name in east Bali, this painting style has been practiced since the 15th century. Traditionally, men chose which stories were illustrated and how they were painted, with women being consulted only on the choice and use of color in the final stages. Dr Siobhan Campbell, a scholar of Indonesian art and textiles, told CNN via email that like many cooperative art practices throughout Indonesia, 'there has traditionally been a division of labor based on gender.' Through her work in the Kamasan community, Campbell found that women's roles in the painting process has historically been downplayed. 'The most recognized artists in the past have been male and people have assumed that only men paint Kamasan scrolls,' Campbell explained. Speaking about her own use of traditional Balinese artistic practices, Sasmita said: 'I really like to make a dialogue between antique objects and the current material world. It becomes a certain language to bridge people from this modern context to the historical context.' Sasmita trained under the Hindu priestess and artist Mangku Muriati, one of the only women famous for inscribing her own stories onto Kamasan scrolls. From here, Sasmita committed to creating her own iconography of womanhood, one glaringly absent from traditional work. 'Bringing women into the main narrative of this artwork, making them the hero of my own story, this is my personal statement as a feminist,' she said. Her work also serves to reclaim Balinese art history. Sasmita sees the violent Dutch occupation of Bali in 1908 as altering the trajectory of Balinese art — transforming traditional practices into a commodity that could be sold to tourists. 'It changed the mindset from art as devotion, art made by the community for devotion, into something individualistic,' she said. 'When my generation was learning about art, we only learnt how to glorify Western artists,' Sasmita added. 'As a result, I didn't have a chance to find a book and learn about traditional Balinese artists, or about who the Balinese masters were.' Although this is her first UK solo exhibition, Sasmita's eyes are firmly set on the continuation of artistic culture back home, where she works closely with a traditional artistic community. 'I want our government to pay attention to the crafter and traditional artists. The way we inherit and maintain the knowledge is very strong,' she said. 'It is a national asset, and one that is very, very beautiful.'
