In Conversation with Curator Farah Wardani

To mark the opening of LAH! Stories from the Neighbourhood, Cuturi Gallery speaks with Indonesian curator Farah Wardani to learn more about her curatorial approach and the frameworks that shaped this transnational exhibition. With a practice rooted in the intersections of art, archives, and generational discourse, Farah brings over two decades of experience in Indonesia’s GLAM (Gallery–Library–Archive–Museum) field to the exhibition. In 2023, her two-decade anthology of art writing was published as Skena 2000: Berkas Seni Rupa Indonesia 2002–2023 (Gang Kabel).

 

Farah was formerly the Artistic Director of the 2013 Biennale Yogyakarta and Executive Director of the 2021 Jakarta Biennale. She served as Director of the Indonesian Visual Art Archive (IVAA) in Yogyakarta from 2006–2015, later joining the National Gallery Singapore (2015–2019) as Assistant Director, Resource Center. Currently, she sits on the IVAA Advisory Board and the Expert Committee of SAKA Museum, Bali. In 2024, she co-curates the +E Program for Ellipse Art Projects at the Biennale de Lyon.

 

 

It was a serendipitous moment. Maya, the founder of Artsphere Gallery, connected me with Cuturi Gallery, and I found myself resonating with their roster of artists. I saw them as an exciting new wave of talent emerging from Singapore. This collaboration also gave me an opportunity to invite young Indonesian artists I had long wanted to work with. The concept was simple: four artists from each country, creating a dialogue through painting, each bringing their own distinct voice, yet sharing a generational sensibility.

 

 

What came to mind as a keyword that binds these eight artists together was the colloquial term "Lah". It is a ubiquitous suffix commonly employed by people across Singapore, Indonesia, and Malaysia. Primarily appended to the end of sentences, 'Lah' functions variously as an exclamation, an emphatic marker, or even subtly suggests a questioning tone. Its abundant use in everyday conversations, whether in Malay, Singlish, or Bahasa Indonesia, highlights its role as a linguistic bridge. In the context of this exhibition, 'Lah' serves as an analogy for the contemporary painting medium itself. It represents a unifying tie that binds all eight artists, a common tool that, while employed in vastly different ways, inherently suggests a unifying familiarity and connectivity among these neighbours within the vibrant archipelago.

 

 

How did you pair the artists into thematic sections like "Reimagined Landscapes" or "Deconstructing Figuratives"? Was this intuitive or structured? 

 

In observing the similarities and differences between the artists, I started to formulate narratives between these 'neighbours'. As young Singaporean and Indonesian, each artist in 'LAH!' presents narratives that shape stories reflecting the pressing issues, social concerns, and deeply personal anxieties of their generation. The eight artists came from various backgrounds and represent diverse contexts, whether social, academic background and some of them also started in a field outside the contemporary art scene, even underwent personal transformations. Each one has their own unique way of telling their stories and waves poetics through their own brand of contemporary painting. 

 

Discerning common threads woven through their diverse range of techniques, the exhibition is framed into four sections/sub-themes that play around conventional terminologies in the painting discipline: Landscape, Figurative, Portraits, Collages, each one represented with works by two Indonesian and Singaporean artists as dual counterparts. Prabu Perdana, and Shen Jiaqi, for instance, articulate stories drawn from the stark landscapes of urban isolation, the often-overlooked spaces of industrialised grounds, and abandoned buildings undergoing transitions. Aisha Rosli and Ruth ‘Utay’ Marbun, through their compelling compositions of collages and fragments, grapple with existential questions. Simultaneously, we see renderings and portrayals of the current generation’s personal, social and political concerns narrated through the works of Faris Heizer, Iqi Qoror, Dian Suci and Casey Tan.

 

 

How do you see generational perspectives influencing painting practice in Singapore and Indonesia?

 

These young artists have new and refreshing takes, influenced by their time and social contexts, offering insights into what contemporary painting is today. For example, for Prabu Perdana, his works contrasts with the historical Indonesian "Mooi Indie" style, which depicted idealised nature, a representation of a paradise increasingly lost. Hence, in Prabu's hands, images of urban constructions in Indonesia are juxtaposed with sprawling grasslands, trees, and plants, typically set against a backdrop of skies and clouds of different hues. In a way, Prabu's works align with the growing discourse of The Anthropocene, which often emphasises the impact of human activity on the planet and sometimes contemplates the potential extinction of humans in the near future. In parallel, Shen Jiaqi, paints romanticised scenes in Singapore that are common sights to locals. 

 

What’s compelling is that even when depicting everyday sights, these artists turn them into visual documents of their time. Their paintings become time-stamped reflections of what it means to live, feel, and observe in this region right now. And in curating this show, I found myself learning from them, not just about painting, but about the world we currently share.

 

LAH! Stories from the Neighbourhood is on view at Cuturi Gallery from 28 May to 5 July. For more information, please click here.

 

Interview Courtesy of Farah Wardani and Cuturi Gallery, Edited by Roxana Yeo, May 2025.