Citra Sasmita

(she/her)
b 1990, Bali, Indonesia
Lives and works in Bali, Indonesia

Arguably one of the most salient symbols of Indonesian culture in the foreign imagination, the body of the Balinese woman—often half-dressed and swaying in dance—has long been a subject in visual representations of the island nation, from the colonial era until now. In Citra Sasmita’s painting, however, the women are hidden away from our gaze. Veiled by a white cloth, patterned ornately with gold rose motifs, we are permitted only a glimpse of the women’s legs, which are anchored by trickles of paint that appear almost like the roots of a tree. Their arms each cradle a stone, a cactus, a knife and a pair of scissors. Surrounded by these sharp, hostile objects, is a placenta (ari-ari) with the umbilical cord still attached. Believed in Balinese culture to be the deceased younger sibling of the birthed child, the ari-ari in Sasmita’s painting conjures images of life and death; of the connection between mother and child; the passage of time and knowledge between generations; and of the ever-changing face of ‘culture’ as it struggles between the push and pull of tradition and modernity—all consummated in the flesh of the woman. Originally produced in response to the theme “Into the Future”, Metamorphosis: Flowers of Carnage imagines a potential pathway forward in representations of Balinese art, culture and bodies, without forsaking historical experience and the memory of the past.

Metamorphosis: Flowers of Carnage 2018
acrylic on canvas
150 x 200 cm