"Keshav Anand: What inspired the upcoming exhibition’s title, Into Eternal Land?
Citra Sasmita: The title is a culmination of my previous works that frequently explore themes of Eastern philosophy, mythology, and ancestral narratives and beliefs. Having been born and raised in Bali, I am well-acquainted with stories about karma, the journey after death, and the history of Dutch colonisation. I aim to portray these cosmological events through the dramatic installation titled Into Eternal Land.
KA: I’m curious if and how your background in physics and literature seep into your art practice?
CS: What I can convey regarding this question is that I love knowledge and various disciplines, and my interests are not limited to literary studies and physics. Visual art has been my passion since childhood. Discovering the arts after studying these two distinct fields made me realise that studying art involves more than just formal aesthetics; art also offers the freedom to explore other disciplines to find its true essence. You can see my background in literature reflected in how I construct narratives and cosmologies in my paintings, while my knowledge of physics is evident in how I formulate shapes and combine various elements in my work.
KA: Your work often features strong female protagonists who defy patriarchal norms. Could you expand on the thinking behind these characters?
CS: Making women the main characters reflects my political stance in reclaiming the interpretation of the canon and history, which has often overlooked the significant contributions and roles of women, especially in the visual arts. For a long time, I’ve pondered the question of the roots of patriarchy in Indonesia that has led to the social inequalities experienced by women from previous generations. This has driven me to explore the history and narratives that have been passed down. In several discoveries, such as in ancient paintings, women are often marginalised figures, which inspired me to position women as the primary and central characters in the narratives of my artwork.
KA: You reinterpret the Kamasan painting tradition, a historically male-dominated art form. How do you approach this technique to challenge its traditional narratives and expand its possibilities?
CS: I studied from my teacher, Mangku Muriati, for approximately six years. She is a priestess and maestro painter of Kamasan. My learning process is very organic and I am fully aware that there are technical standards and rules that I cannot learn because I am from outside the village. However, I started by studying the popular narratives they inherited, and how these narratives function in the socio-cultural society in Bali.
Kamasan painters really adhere to Wayang anatomy and cosmological composition in arranging the story on the canvas (for example, the divine figure must be placed at the top of the canvas so that it forms a hierarchy with the other figures), but I chose to paint the figure with human anatomy with its pure essence, without any clothing (clothing is a symbol that differentiates the social class of one character from another), so that what I present is considered not to imitate what they inherited, but rather a new contribution because it is considered to provide a new innovation."
