Maria Indriasari

(she/her)
b 1976, Yogyakarta, Indonesia
Lives and works in Yogyakarta, Indonesia

Working with fabric and thread, Maria Indriasari creates soft sculptures which explore her personal experiences of motherhood. In Hujan (Rain), a small plush toy peeks through from behind a curtain of fabric “rain”. But what first appears to be an innocent and light-hearted scene, reveals a more complicated mixture of emotions upon closer examination. Decorating the strips of vertically suspended fabric is a poem penned by Indriasari in Bahasa Indonesia. Contemplative and mournful of a perennially unbreachable distance between a mother and a child born of her flesh, the artist’s poem drifts between wistful expressions of an unconditional maternal love, and pained lamentations over a child that must eventually be separated from her. Beautiful and yet oppressive, the words which cascade over the doll asks viewers to move beyond superficial perceptions of motherhood as a joyous milestone. Rather, Indriasari’s words— ‘rain does not always make sense…/ time drops on the surface of your fragrant skin…/ your dance of life is certainly not for me…/ ignore me…keep your pure dance…’—reveal hidden dimensions of the woman-mother identity: of motherhood as struggle, suffering and inescapable bodily trauma.

Hujan 2017
fabric, thread, button, foam, plywood and teak
197.9 x 116 cm, 89 x 61 cm