C I T R A S A S M I T A :
I N T O E T E R N A L L A N D
Curated by Lotte Johnson
30 January 2025 - 25 April 2025
The Curve, Barbican Centre, Silk St, City of London, London EC2Y 8DS, United Kingdom
The MENAEA Collection is excited to be one of the founding members of this exhibition, made possible thanks to Lead Supporter Bagri Foundation, along with the Henry Moore Foundation, and Natasha Sidharta, as well as a residency in partnership with Delfina Foundation.
In January 2025, Indonesian artist Citra Sasmita will reimagine The Curve for her inaugural solo exhibition in the United Kingdom—a newly commissioned work titled Into Eternal Land. With seamless artistry across painting, sculptural installations, embroidery, and scent, Sasmita beckons visitors to embark on a symbolic, multi-sensory journey through the gallery’s 90-metre expanse, delving into themes of ancestral memory, migration, and ritualistic traditions.
As a multifaceted artist, Sasmita's work boldly challenges entrenched ideas about gender roles, power hierarchies, and systems of oppression. Her practice defies easy categorisation, transcending traditional materials and iconographies while addressing reductive colonial perspectives of Indonesian art and the historic marginalisation of craft. Into Eternal Land eloquently speaks to profound and urgent issues—reconnecting with ancestral legacies, confronting humanity’s fragile relationship with the natural world, and envisioning the possibility of feminist resistance.
Frequently engaging with the Indonesian Kamasan painting tradition, which dates back to the fifteenth century and was historically an all-male art form, Sasmita reclaims this practice to dispel misconceptions about Balinese culture while confronting its colonial scars. Her commitment to alternative storytelling illuminates the experiences of women who have been silenced, marginalised, or objectified. By reimagining mythologies—from indigenous Indonesian histories to Dutch colonial narratives and contemporary society—Sasmita introduces commanding female figures inhabiting a post-patriarchal world.
For her Barbican commission, Into Eternal Land, Sasmita draws inspiration from diverse sources, including centuries of migration and displacement across the Indonesian archipelago and the symbolic interplay of heaven, earth, and hell found in cultural narratives—from Bhima Swarga’s odyssey through hell in the Balinese Mahabharata to Dante’s Inferno.
Panoramic scrolls—Sasmita’s reimagined Kamasan paintings—unfurl along the gallery’s walls, presenting women undergoing metamorphosis and rebirth: transforming into trees or bird spirits, radiating flames, and pouring forth water and blood. Shrine-like installations, adorned with flowing braids of hair, evoke profound ancestral connections, while python-skin canvases pay homage to sacrificial rituals. Suspended textiles, akin to flags, symbolise portals to other realms and depict hybridised woman-plant figures possessing medicinal knowledge. Crafted in collaboration with Balinese women artisans, these pieces honour embroidery traditions on the brink of extinction. The exhibition culminates in a turmeric mandala, offering a meditative focal point, while an ambient soundscape by Indonesian composer Agha Praditya Yogaswara harmonises with Sasmita’s imaginative cosmologies.
Reflecting on her work, Sasmita remarked: “The majesty of The Curve humbles and excites me, inspiring possibilities I could never have envisioned. As a Balinese individual, I deeply believe in the union of space and time. The Curve allows me to stage a ritual for the space itself, imbued with Bali’s cosmology and cultural essence. I eagerly await the reactions of those who experience this exhibition.”
About Citra Sasmita Born in Bali in 1990, Citra Sasmita is a self-taught artist with a unique trajectory, having studied literature and physics before embarking on her artistic journey as a short story illustrator for the Bali Post. Her dynamic body of work has been showcased globally, from the forthcoming 2025 Sharjah Biennial to the 2024 Toronto Biennial of Art and the 24th Biennale of Sydney, among numerous other prestigious exhibitions. Solo presentations of her art include Atlas of Curiosity (Singapore, 2023), Ode To The Sun (Singapore, 2020), and Tales of Nowhere (Jakarta, 2020).