Born in Bandung in 1961, Arahmaiani is a leading figure in the contemporary art scene in Indonesia, and a pioneer in the field of performance art in Southeast Asia. Her works, ranging from performance to painting, installation, video, poetry, dance and music have been exhibited at major institutions worldwide. She was one of the featured artists in the Indonesia National Pavilion at the 50th Venice Biennale in 2003, and participated in international events such as the Gwangju Biennale (2002); Bienal de São Paulo (2002), Performance Biennale, Israel (2001); Biennale de Lyon (2000), among others, and most recently at Kunming Biennale (2016) and Yinchuan Biennale (2018).

Her work has grappled with contemporary politics, violence, critique of capitalism, the female body and in recent years, her own identity, which mediates between Islamic, Hindu, Buddhist, and animist beliefs. She often uses her public presence in order to attract attention to violence and discrimination, particularly as perpetrated against women in Indonesia’s Islamic society.

Since September 11, she has been working at the intersection of critical perspectives towards Islam all the while fighting against its general stigmatization. She has spent the past several years working with Tibetan monks to confront environmental issues in Tibet Plateau.

Presented by the Audain Faculty of Art at Emily Carr University with support from the University of Victoria.