1 Introduction 2 Essay by Alia Swastika 10 Wewe Gombel Mengamankan Patung Wanita Tugu Tani (Wewe Gombels ‘Secures’ the female form of the Tugu Tani) 22 Sundal Bolong Mengamankan Patung Wanita Tugu Tani (Sundal Bolong ‘Secures’ the female form of the Tugu Tani) 32 Kuyang Mengamank Patung Wanita Tugu Tani (Kuyang ‘Secures’ the female form of the Tugu Tani) 44 Casting Spells for the Movement 52 Biodata 56 Acknowledgement TABLE OF CONTENTS
A+ WORKS of ART is pleased to present works by Nadiah Bamadhaj for Art Jakarta Bamadhaj’s2022.works will be shown across two locations: Art Jakarta Gallery and Art Jakarta Spot. Her solo exhibition, Mengamankan Ekspektasi (2022), comprising three multimedia works from her recent exploration of female ghosts in relation to patriarchal expectations, will be displayed at our booth in Art Jakarta Gallery. Bamadhaj’s 2021 multimedia installation, Casting Spells for the Movement, first shown at Jakarta Biennale 2021, will be displayed at Art Jakarta Spot. One component of the installation, cast in resin, takes inspiration from Tugu Tani a prominent monument in Menteng, Jakarta and reinstates the occult to its original subservient form and context. The other component is a three-channel video, reinjecting a flurry of action and flight to offset the monument’s frozen subservient pose.
In combination, these works serve to demonstrate Bamadhaj’s continuous attempts to agitate the boundaries set by patriarchal structures upon the feminine body, here specifically through examples of women in Indonesian history/mythology and their gesturing towards something and anything beyond submission.
1INTRODUCTION
Nadih Bamadhaj’s ongoing project to investigate the construction of a woman’s agency within historical narratives and mythologies first came to my attention through her solo exhibition, The Submissive Feminist (2020). In this exhibition, Bamadhaj reflected on her experience of living in Yogyakarta, where a woman’s strength and agency are built within, despite the possible impression of being submissive. This was followed by her installation inspired by the story of calonarang, a powerful woman in Javanese and Balinese mythology, labelled as a witch so that their power would not upend the status quo.
With the growth of feminist scholarship, many female scholars have criticized the way that women’s figures or female ghosts have been portrayed, often as monsters or demons. In many cases, the figures were transformed to be frightening harbingers of the negative aspects of life, when in fact, what was deemed negative was their knowledge or their kindness in contributing to society. In some portrayals, these figures were punished for their sexuality and gender roles. For example, Sundel Bolong was a symbol of the sinner: forced to abort her baby due to social circumstances, she risked her life under unsafe procedures. She was blamed for her pregnancy, and after she died, she was blamed for her abortion. This myth continues to circulate. By maintaining monstrous and ghostly personifications, the strength, ability, and knowledge of these powerful women have been erased and forgotten.
ESSAY BY ALIA SWASTIKA
When Nadiah expanded her inquiry of examples of mythological women to horror narratives in her visual reconstruction of Wewe Gombel and Sundel Bolong — two of the most popular female ghosts in Indonesia’s cultural landscape — references to the conception of demonising women came vividly to mind. Growing up as a child in the kampung of Yogyakarta, these two women were often conjured by family members or adult groups as threats, forcing us into obeyance to certain rules. We imagined them as sources of our fears, as figures to be avoided. Our feelings were then normalized through the repro duction of these figures through various cultural products, created in turn within a dominant patriarchal value system.
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In this installation, instead of placing the ghosts and the ibu in head-to-head position, where one and another are competitors, Nadiah
The female ghosts were objectified in front of the camera, with the established stories directing their body and their presence, losing their own subjectivity. Thus, the women were doubly misconstructed, once in real social construction and conversation, then again within cinema. Nadiah, in contrast, offers a more emphatic view (and thus a feminist gaze) towards these female ghost figures. By avoiding the established stereotype in the entertainment industry, and with her layering collage techniques, the self and the body are reborn. With intimate gaze and conversation, the figures are not pursuing revenge, as usually occurs in cinema. Instead, they invite the audience to come close, to observe their past and memories, to reveal their wounds and pains, and to acknowledge their empowered bodies. Their gaze is equal to the audience, and that enables them to share their knowledge and experience; we absorb the energy and power of their presence, instead of neglecting and undergazing them as we were told to do when we were children.Aconnection between the figures of female ghosts and the context of urban life emerges in the artist’s presentation of the ghosts and the female farmer from the monumental sculpture, Patung Pak Tani, in central Jakarta. Nadiah detaches the female farmer from the whole sculpture to bring forth her existence, which is usually shadowed by the accompanying male figure. In our interview below, Nadiah de scribes the female farmer as representing an image that is opposite to the ghosts; with her proper kebaya costume and submissive gesture, the farmer might symbolize the ibu (“mother”) in modern Indonesian society, who was politicized by Soeharto to reduce the political power of Indonesian women during the New Order.
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Reinforcing the myth, the entertainment industry created films, movies, or imagery of these female ghosts with patriarchal values, exposed to the male gaze through a presentation of passive sexuality.
lets the ghosts “secure” the female farmer in a gesture of sisterhood and solidarity. In its confrontation of the visible and the invisible, the real and the imaginary, the canon and the popular, Mengamankan Ekspektasi reveals the layers of questions and interpretations embedded within different contexts, narratives, and histories. The meeting point of two-dimensional and three-dimensional objects offers a specific visual experience for the audience, where their collective memories of ghosts and sculptures can begin to be requestioned, redefined and reimagined.Thehistorical and social construction of female ghosts and mother figures represented by Ibu Tani could also be interpreted in relation to the confrontation of women activists of the Indonesian Women Movement (Gerakan Wanita Indonesia). This was one of the most progressive movements that began in the 1950s, and that was eventually banned after the September 1965 tragedy. Since then, the members of this organization have been portrayed as evil and demonic, attributed falsely to acts of cruelty that were never committed. Their lives became so miserable for years, contained in jail without court proceedings. The demonization of those political women led to a new gender politics under the New Order era, where the image of the women was sublimated into the image of the mother, as mentioned above. Nadiah Bamadhaj here conjures two different historical periods and women’s narratives in a symbolic yet contextual way. By avoiding the judgemental gaze, she creates a new space for dialogue where sympathy, solidarity in sisterhood, and reconciliation for a better future is 1.possible.When did your interest in the demonization of women by the creation of female ghosts begin, particularly after you had lived in Indonesia? I understand that your previous project was related to Calon Arang narratives, which criticizes powerful women in society, and this continues into this project of ghosts. Do you think the use of the imagined world (or unreal world) to underline the invisibility of these women, in many films and other forms of storytelling, has blurred their position in society?
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The next level of research was why, most Asian ghosts, are depictions of horrible women, and why is it the female gender is always associated with the far end of the spectrum of a chaotic disaster. After some time, I realized that mythology and stories of monstrous women are a form of social control. They are emblematic of what would happen if women and children strayed outside of social norms. This, we can agree, is another commonality in Southeast Asian countries. If women stray outside the patriarchal order of being pure, nurturing mothers, and elderly caregivers i.e. do not demand power they may transform into the monstrous feminine.
When I first read Ben Anderson’s memoir ‘A Life Beyond Boundaries’ in 2020, I was very interested in his description of Southeast Asian coun tries. For him as countries in one region, we have very little in common. We have different languages, different dominant religions, different colo nizers and different histories. I had never heard of us as a collective described that way before — it was fascinating. So, I started thinking, well, what do we have in common actually, and I remembered sitting in a warung in Bangkok in the 2000s watching a TV movie of what we know in Indonesia and Malaysia as Penanggal (the female ghost with entrails) and thinking ‘wow our ghosts are the same’. After some research, I realized this particular ghost, and many other ghosts, are the similarity we have between Southeast Asian countries, irrespective of our other differences.
I don’t think the imagined world or mythology and stories of monstrous women blurs their position in society. Quite the opposite, the proliferation of the monstrous feminine, especially in popular media, is constantly highlighting what would happen if women stray outside social norms. The ‘downfall’ of women in these stories, and its constant use as a medium of entertainment, is retelling and reinventing these stereotypes over and over again. But if your question means that mythologies of the monstrous feminine causes women of power, agency, and self-determination to be invisible, then I would agree with that.
2. The female gaze is offered by female artists or thinkers to reclaim the power of knowledge produced by women. What are your 5
strategies to bring this gaze into your visual language? Do you twist visual symbols related to the body of these ghosts? Or do you intervene with your own visual metaphors that confront the established symbols? In these three works, I have used images of the three ghosts Wewe Gombel, Sundal Bolong, and Kuyang as they have been interpreted in myth. In my drawings, Wewe Gombel has large and multiple breasts, Sundal Bolong has a hole in her back, and Kuyang is represented as a head with entrails. However, I have reinterpreted them from my gaze, yes. Firstly, in all the ghosts, I use the image of myself, as a means of self-identification and empathy with them and their experiences. Secondly, I have interpreted them as calm and well-groomed the opposite of their depiction in popular stories. In my drawings, they are composed. And thirdly, I have depicted them as interacting with, or having power over, another female stereotype the female figure of the Tugu Tani In Jakarta, which by the way, I have also depicted from my ownMygaze.choice of the female figure of the Tugu Tani is quite specific. She is the stereotype of the opposite of the monstrous feminine. She is hyper-feminine, compliant, and subservient personifying Sukarno’s many wives, as the presidential sponsor of the Tugu Tani. In the title of my drawings, all the ghosts ‘mengamankan’ the female figure of the Tugi Tani. They disagree with her representation, and want to ‘remove’ her as a public monument. I suppose the drawings are a retelling of a story of the three ghosts, using another female figure with which to contrast their experiences. The ghosts, as figures of power, are removing the monument, as a figure of weakness. I’m hoping my storytelling gaze is dominant here.
3. These women: Wewe Gombel and Sundel Bolong were part of the normalized violence of our society. Sundel Bolong, for ex ample, was killed after an abortion; with the recent debate of pro-choice and pro-life, how do you think these demonized 6
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Alia Swastika is a curator and writer based in Yogyakarta, Indonesia. She is now Director of Biennale Jogja Foundation, where she served for curator in previous editions. In 2007–2018 she was the Program Director for Ark Galerie in Jakarta and Yogyakarta, then she transformed the platform to a farming and studio based residency in a village in Yogyakarta.
women could be positioned in a more positive context in our major narrative? Yes, I just re-watched the Sundal Bolong movie featuring the infamous Suzanna from 1988. It needs to be reiterated that Sundal Bolong, or Alisa in the movie, died by performing an illegal abortion on herself. And this happened after she had been turned away from both the courts and the health system after being a victim of rape. Self-abortion was her only option, and it cost her her life. The recent demise of Roe vs. Wade definitely came to mind when I watched this movie. Both Roe v. Wade and the proposed amendments to the Criminal Code in Indonesia, by going against pro-choice, will put women in the same position as the fictitious Alisa risking their lives by terminating a pregnancy they did not want. The only way I can think of de-stigma tizing the experiences of a fictitious character like Alisa, is to retell her story, from a feminist perspective. Will it fall on deaf ears? Probably. But the point is to keep this feminism alive by retelling her story from an empathetic perspective, again and again.
8 ARTIST STATEMENT
In Indonesia, patriarchy comes many forms. In the context of these artworks, I’m referring to a doctrine of patriarchy called State Ibuism, as written by Julia Jayakusuma, which relegates a woman’s role to first being ‘pure’, then existing to be married, and take on a primary role of supporting her husband, bearing him children, and then raising those children as her primary if not sole responsibility. This patriarchal doctrine is also understood as a state of public order. Wewe Gombel, Sundal Bolong and Kuyang all fall into the catergory of ‘Asian ghosts’ specific but not exclusive to Indonesia. As female ghosts, they are a sign of a catastrophic break in public order. In their mytholog ical histories, each ghost, prior to their change into the monstrous feminine, they had all gone against the grain of State Ibuism. Wewe Gombel In her original form was unable to bear children, Sundal Bolong initially achieved agency as a prostitute, and Kuyang had previously attempted to gain more personal power through witchcraft. But in going against patriarchal norms, they were all punished in one way or another. Unable to accept their punishment, they transformed into harbingers of chaos in their ghostlike forms, exacting revenge upon their social environment.Inmy three drawings, I have tried to create two scenarios. First, I have represented these three ghosts as calm and even tempered. And secondly, I have set them against a symbol of the patriarchal doctrine of ibuism the female figure of the Tugu Tani monument in Jakarta. The female figure of the Tugu Tani monument is a fine representation of State Ibuism. She stands below the male figure in the original monument, feminine, poised,
and holding up a plate of what is presumable nourishment for him. She stands in servitude to a man.
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Nadiah Bamadhaj, 2022
By juxtaposing these three monsters against the female figure of the Tugu Tani monument, I attempt to create a contrast as to what is understood, in patriarchal terms, as female chaos against what is understood as female Throughorder. the title of each work, each ghost conducts the act of mengamankan the female Tugu Tani figure. This a tongue and cheek reference to the act of villagers and community groups in Indonesia mengamankan (securing), or more specifically removing monuments or statues in public places not in line with community beliefs. In my artworks, the three ghosts ‘mengamankan’ or are in the process of removing the female figure of the Tugu Tani. They’ve had enough of State Ibuism their failures, their punishment, their metamorphosis, and their revenge. They are calm in their removal of this symbol of what they were expected to be.
Wewe Gombel Mengamankan Patung Wanita Tugu Tani (Wewe Gombels ‘Secures’ the female form of the Tugu Tani) 2022 Charcoal on paper collage, digital print, aluminium and plywood 259 cm × 184 cm × 10 cm 10
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Sundal Bolong Mengamankan Patung Wanita Tugu Tani (Sundal Bolong ‘Secures’ the female form of the Tugu Tani) 2022 Charcoal on paper collage, digital print, aluminium and plywood 206 cm × 131 cm × 10 cm 22
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32 Kuyang Mengamank Patung Wanita Tugu Tani (Kuyang ‘Secures’ the female form of the Tugu Tani) 2022 Charcoal on paper collage, digital print, aluminium and plywood 180 cm × 78 cm × 10 cm
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First, because it was so proportioned and beautiful. But secondly and more importantly, the female figure was positioned significantly below the man, in a gesture of servitude.
The Tugu Tani monument was my most significant impression when I first went to Jakarta. Without knowing anything about its history, the monument struck me for two reasons.
I’d spent the first half of my career contemplating the impact of both architecture and monument as vehicles of propaganda and maintaining the status quo of various Southeast Asian regimes. This monument literally cast women below men, in the public realm of Indonesia’s capital Whencity. I was invited to the Jakarta Biennale in 2021, with the initial theme Building History Together this monument came back to mind. I had the idea to rebuild this piece of Jakarta’s history, but also to unpack the sexism contained in its original form. In the early 1960s, the first Indonesian president Sukarno was conducting dual-diplomacy with both the US and the USSR, with an eye on including mineral-rich West Papua into the Indonesian archipelago. Russia responded with the gift of this monument in 1963, dedicated to the agricultural class. The fact that this farmer was armed raised the ire of the US and the Indonesian military as the monument was an ode to the then-existing Indonesian Communist Party.
42 ARTIST STATEMENT
In the early 1960s, Indonesia had a flourishing women's movement, which had come out of the fight for independence. In a study by Dutch sociologist Saskia Wieringa, she identifies hundreds of women’s groups at that time, working on education equality, labour rights,
I designed a three-channel video to offset the monument’s frozen subservient pose, with a monochromatic flurry of action and flight. Once the installation was up, she looked more like she was casting a spell than serving a meal, so I named the work Casting Spells for the Movement
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The monument’s delicate feet became stumpy and wide, her form more robust, and her face replaced with my own, but with an expression of annoyance annoyance not only at this disconnect between history and its representation, but also at the fact that Gerwani, and all its progress they had made, had been wiped out in 1965, in the infamous coup-attempt that marked the end of communism in Indonesia.Ihad to find a way to represent the women’s movement not represented in the monument or in history.
By the time this monument was built in 1963, Gerwani was the largest women’s organization in Southeast Asia, and not only opposed the subservience of women to men, but also Sukarno’s polygamy. Clearly, this monument did not represent Indonesian women, but rather Sukarno’s image of what they should be.
Nadiah Bamadhaj
I set about reconstructing the monument maintaining its recognizable pose - but tweaking it in parts.
marriage laws, and regulating the sex industry. The largest Indonesian women’s group was Gerwani, independent from but associated with the Indonesian Communist Party.
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44 Casting Spells for the Movement 2021 Resin sculpture and 3-channel video 253 cm × 178 cm × 93 cm and 2 min 26 sec Jakarta Biennale 2021
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2020 Ravaged, Richard Koh Fine Art, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Dreaming Desire, Richard Koh Fine Art, Singapore.
2001– Artist-in-Residence, 2000 Rimbun Dahan, Artist Residency Program, Kuang, Malaysia.
EDUCATION 1993– Bachelor of Fine 1989 Arts, Sculpture and Sociology Canterbury Christchurch,University,NewZealand.
2004– Asian Public 2002 Intellectual Fellowship and Follow-Up Grant, funded by the Nippon Foundation, administered by the Institute of Malaysian and International Studies (IKMAS), Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia. 2001 Juror’s Choice, Philip Morris Malaysia Art Awards.
Nadiah Bamadhaj (born 1968, Petaling Jaya, Malaysia) resides permanently in Yogyakarta, Indonesia. Trained as a sculptor in New Zealand at the Canterbury School of Fine Arts, she creates collaged drawings of a specific technique developed over many years. Her repertoire also includes sculpture, site-specific installation, digital video and print. She has lectured in Fine Arts in Kuala Lumpur, written several articles and publications on human rights in Malaysia and Indonesia, received two grants from the Nippon Foundation’s Asian Public Intellectual Fellowship in 2002 and 2004, and is currently on the board of Yayasan Kebaya, a HIV/AIDS homeless shelter in Yogyakarta. In 2019, a survey book of 18-years of her artwork ‘Nadiah Bamadhaj’ was published by Italian-based SKIRA, and she was recently featured in ‘Vitamin D3: Today’s Best in Contemporary Drawing’ published by London-based PHAIDON. Her artwork currently focuses on the social intricacies of life within Indonesian society, using figure, flora and fauna, batik motif, mythology, and architecture to articulate her observations.
2019 Lush Fixations, Richard Koh Fine Art, Singapore.
2016 Descent, Richard Koh Fine Art, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. 2014 Poised for Degradation, Richard Koh Fine Art, Singapore.
2021 The Inconsistencies of Success, Small Shifting Space, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. The Submissive Feminist, Kiniko Art, Yogyakarta, Indonesia.
SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2012 Keseragaman, Richard Koh Fine Art, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
2018 Ravaged, Chambers Fine Art, New York, USA.
52 BIODATA
AWARDS
2008 Surveillance, Valentine Willie Fine Art,Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. 2004 enamlima sekarang (sixtyfive now), Galeri Lontar, Komunitas Utan Kayu, Jakarta, Indonesia. 2003 enamlima sekarang (sixtyfive now), Benteng Vredeburg Museum, Yogyakarta, Indonesia.
2020 ARTJOG Resilience, Jogja Nasional Museum, Yogyakarta, Indonesia.
START, Saatchi Gallery, London, UK 2013 Parallax: ASEAN, Changing Landscapes, Wandering Stars, ASEAN-Korea Contemporary Media Art Exhibition, ASEANKOREA Centre, Seoul, South Korea. Bersama, Muzium Dan Galeri Seni Bank Negara Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Welcome to the Jungle: Contemporary Art in Southeast Asia from the Collection of Singapore Art Museum, Contemporary Art Museum Kumamoto (CAMK), Kumamoto, Japan. Convergence: Cultural Legacy, Galeri Petronas, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
2022 A+ Works of Art Anniversary Exhibition, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Voices of Longing Calling You Home, Broken White Project, Acehouse Collective, Yogyakarta, Indonesia. ARTJOG MMXXII: Arts in Common Expanding Awareness, Yogyakarta, Indonesia. Synthetic Condition, UP Vargas Museum, Manila, Phillipines. A+ Preferred, A+ Works of Art, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. chance constellations, S.E.A FOCUS, Artspace@ HeluTrans, Singapore.
2016 Incomplete Urbanism: Attempts of Spatial Critical Practice, NTU Centre for Contemporary Art Singapore, Gillman Barracks, Singapore. Encounter: Art from Different Lands, Southeast Asia Plus Triennale 2016, National Gallery of Indonesia, Jakarta, Indonesia.
2018 Contemporary Chaos, Vestfossen Kunstlaboratorium, Norway. Art Central Hong Kong, Richard Koh Fine Art, Hong Kong. ART STAGE Singapore, Richard Koh Fine Art, Singapore.
2014 Medium at Large, Singapore Art Museum, Singapore.
2019 The Body Politic and the Body, ILHAM X SAM Project, ILHAM Gallery, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Aura, Art Collection Reflection, Galeri Petronas, Malaysia. ART-staged: No Booth, Richard Koh Fine Art, Singapore. Of Dreams and Contemplation: Selections from the Collection of Richard Koh, The Private Museum, Singapore. Taipei Dangdai, Richard Koh Fine Art, Taipei, Taiwan.
Crossing: Pushing Boundaries, Galeri Petronas, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
2015 Art of ASEAN, Bank Negara Museum and Gallery, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. A Luxury We Cannot Afford, Para Site, Hong Kong. I am Ten, Richard Koh Fine Art, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
BIENNALES & GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2021 ESOK: Jakarta Biennale, Museum Nasional, Jakarta. ARTJOG MMXXI Time(to) Wonder, Jogja Nasional Museum, Yogayakarta, Indonesia. hyper-horizon, S.E.A FOCUS, Artspace@ HeluTrans, Singapore.
2011 It’s Now or Never Part II, Singapore Art Museum, Singapore. Beyond the Self: Contemporary Portraiture from Asia, National Portrait Gallery, Canberra, Australia. Works from Southeast Asia, Richard Koh Fine Art, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. 53
2017 We are here, Richard Koh Fine Art, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia ACAW Thinking Projects, C24 Gallery, New York, United States. Di Mana (Where Are) Young?, National Art Gallery, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
2001 1965 Rebuilding Its Monuments, Galeri Petronas, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
2009 Jogja Jamming: Jogja Biennale X, Taman Budaya Yogyayakarta, Yogyakarta, Indonesia. Earth and Water: Mapping Art in Southeast Asia, Singapore Art Museum, Singapore. Photoquai 09: 2nd Biennale Photographic Festival, musée duquai Branly, Paris, France. Cartographical Lure, Valentine Willie Fine Art, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Jakarta Biennale XII: Fluid Zone, Galeri Nasional, Jakarta, Indonesia. Littoral Drift, UTS Gallery, University of Technology, Sydney, Australia. Code Share: 5 continents, 10 biennales, 20 artists, Contemporary Art Centre, Vilnius, Lithuania. 2008 Wonder, Singapore Biennale, Singapore City Hall, Singapore. East-South, Out of Sight, South and Southeast Asia Still and Moving Images, Tea Pavilion, Guangzhou Triennale, China. The Scale of Black, Contemporary Drawings from Southeast Asia, HT Contemporary Space, Singapore.
Fetish: Object Art Project #1, Biasa Artspace, Denpasar, Indonesia. Selamat Datang ke (Welcome to) Malaysia: An exhibition of contemporary art from Malaysia, Gallery 4A, Sydney, Australia Processing the City: Art on Architecture, The Annex Gallery, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Never Mind, Video Art Exhibition, ViaVia Café, Yogyakarta, Indonesia.
2006 Fast Futures: Asian Video Art, The Asia Society India Centre, Little Theatre Auditorium, NCPA, Mumbai, India. The War Must Go On, Clockshop Billboard Series, corner of Fairfax and Wilshire, Los Angeles, USA. TV-TV, Week 34, Video Art Festival, Copenhagen, Denmark. Building Conversations: Nadiah Bamadhaj and Michael Lee, Singapore Art Museum, Singapore. Signed and Dated, Valentine Willie Fine Art Gallery, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Holding Up Half the Sky by Women Artists, National Art Gallery, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
2010 Creative Index, The Nippon Foundation’s Asian Public Intellectual Fellowship’s 10th Anniversary, Silverlens Gallery, Manila, Philippines. Agenda Kebudayaan Gusdurisme, 100-day memorial for Abdurrahman Wahid @ Gus Dur, Langgeng Gallery, Magelang, Indonesia. Beacons of ContemporaryArchipelago:Artfrom Southeast Asia, Arario Gallery, Seoul, South Korea.
2007 Out of the Mould: The Age of Reason, 10 Malaysian Women Artists, Galeri Petronas, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Photofolio, Jogja Gallery, Yogyakarta, Indonesia.
Rethinking Nordic Colonialism: A Postcolonial Exhibition Project in Five Acts, Act 3: Faroe Art Museum, Tórshavn, The Faroe Islands, Denmark. Biennale Jakarta 2006, Beyond the Limits and its Challenges, Galeri Lontar, Komunitas Utan Kayu, Indonesia. Fast Futures: Asian Video Art, Asian Contemporary Art Week, Rubin Museum of Art, New York, USA. Home Productions, Video Art Exhibition, Singapore Art Museum, Singapore.
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2004 Flying Circus Project: 04, Seeing with Foreign Eyes, Theatreworks, Fort Canning Park, Singapore. Batu Bata Tanah Air (Building Blocks of Homeland), a collaborative project with Tian Chua, Cemeti Art House, Yogyakarta, Indonesia.
National Visual Arts Gallery, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Galeri Petronas, Kuala Lumpur, TheMalaysia.ZainAzahari Collection, Galeri Z, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia Khazanah Nasional Berhad, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia Museum Azman, Shah Alam, Malaysia Muzium & Galeri Tuanku Fauziah, Universiti Sains Malaysia, Penang, NationalMalaysia Gallery, Singapore Singapore Art Museum, Singapore 55
2005 Consciousness of the Here and Now, Biennial Yogya VII 05, Kandhang Menjangan Heritage Site, Yogyakarta, Indonesia.
2002 Asean Art Awards, Bali International Convention Center, Nusa Dua, Bali, Indonesia. Touch, WWF Art For Nature Fundraising Exhibition, Rimbun Dahan Gallery, Kuang, Malaysia. Pause, Gwangju Biennale 2002, Exhibition Hall 1, Gwangju, South Korea.
Home Works II: A Forum on Cultural Practices, Lebanese Association for Plastic Arts, Ashkal Alwan, Beirut, Lebanon.
147 Tahun Merdeka (147 Years of Independence), in collaboration with Tian Chua, Reka Art Space, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Urban Culture, CP Biennale, Museum of the Indonesian National Bank, Jakarta, Indonesia. you are here, Valentine Willie Fine Arts Gallery, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia Media in “f”, The 9th International Interdisciplinary Congress on Women, EWHA Women’s University Campus, Seoul, South Korea.
2001 Philip Morris Art Awards, National Art Gallery, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Exhibit X, Taksu Gallery, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia Flashpoint, WWF Art for Nature Fundraising Exhibition, Rimbun Dahan Gallery, Kuang, Malaysia. Exhibit A, Valentine Willie Fine Arts Gallery, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. 2000 Arang, Taksu Gallery, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
Living Art: Regional Artists Respond to HIV/AIDS, Queen’s Gallery, XV International AIDS Conference, Bangkok, Thailand. Paradise Found/ Paradise Lost, WWF Art for Nature Fundraising Exhibition, Rimbun Dahan Gallery, Kuang, Malaysia.
Seriously Beautiful, Reka Art Studio, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Gedebook, Group Fundraising Exhibition, Kedai Kebun Forum, Yogyakarta, Indonesia.
ART COLLECTIONS
Farah ArieDesriCitraBudiAgensiAntoRachelManggalaDolorosaWardaniSinagaArtStudioSurijataHercules56LaksonoPratiwiSuryaKristianiDyanto56
Grace Samboh
Bamadhaj and A+ Works of Art would like to thank the following individuals for their support and contributions to the conception of these works:
Nadiah
All articles and illustrations contained in this catalogue are subject to copyright law. Any use beyond the narrow limites defineded by copyright law, and without the express of the publisher, is forbidden and will be prosecuted. Designed by Kenta.Works
Published by A+ WORKS of ART d6 G 8, d6 Trade Centre 801 Jalan Sentul 51000 Kuala Lumpur +6018Malaysia333 A+@aplusart.asiawww.aplusart.asiainfo@aplusart.asia3399Facebook/InstagramCopyright©2022WORKSofART, and The Artist. All rights Publishedreserved.toaccompany
the Mengamankan Ekspektasi by Nadiah Bamadhaj at Art Jakarta 2022, Indonesia from 26 to 28
August 2022.
A+ WORKS of ART is a contemporary art gallery based in Kuala Lumpur, with a geographic focus on Malaysia and Southeast Asia. Founded in 2017 by Joshua Lim, the gallery presents a wide range of contemporary practices, from painting to performance, drawing, sculpture, new media art, photography, video and installation. Its exhibitions have showcased diverse themes and approaches, including material experimentation and global conversations on social issues. Collaboration is key to the ethos of A+ WORKS of ART. Since its opening, the gallery has worked with artists, curators, writers, collectors, galleries and partners from within the region and beyond, and continues to look out for new collaborations. The gallery name is a play on striving for distinction but also on the idea that art is never without context and is always reaching to connect — it is always “plus” something else.
