Ratu R. Saraswati
Ratu R. Saraswati (Jakarta, 1990) obtained her BFA from the Faculty of Art and Design’s Institut Teknologi Bandung in 2013. In 2015, she was a resident at Sàn Art, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. In the same year, she was a finalist of the national Indonesian Art Award, followed by the Bandung Contemporary Art Award 2017. Her performances have been commissioned for Jakarta Biennale 2017 and Biennale Jogja 2019. She was a resident at the Rijksakademie, Amsterdam, the Netherlands from 2020-2022, followed by an artist in residency at Werkplaats Molenwijk a project location of Framer Framed in Autumn 2022.
The artist uses storytelling, performance, and photography to engage with people to nurture empathetic relationships. In her practice, she examines the nature of human aggression and reparation, attempting to find balance by actively anticipating and sensing real-life encounters. Her works are the result of continuous reflections upon her sense of selfhood and taking a position in diverse conditions.
She processes traumatic experiences through attunement with other living beings in the landscape she inhabits. While inviting the interpersonal values of art, she thoroughly observes the archive of the every day by unfolding the intersections of personal experience and collective narratives. Her observations elaborate on webs of human relationships, historical events, and transformative natural processes. Growing from the sense of care, her art attempts to subversively pollinate resilience amid today’s increasing intolerance and discrimination. Oscillating between what appears public and what remains private, she uses the artistic endeavours she believes are conductive to human wellness to create a sincere common ground within the realm of the psyche.
- Personal website of Ratu R. Saraswati
- Werkplaats Molenwijk
- Rijksakademie van Beeldende Kunsten - Amsterdam