Light illuminates objects and makes them visible to the eye. Through light, we see color.

Perhaps this is a basic interpretation of light and color. Syagini Ratna Wulan, however, has tried to develop a deeper understanding of light and color.

“Light is spiritual. We don’t know what it is, but we can feel some part of it. It can be explained by science, but a part of it is still a mystery,” said Syagini, fondly known as Cagi.

She believes that color is a mystery for human beings, and invites everyone to witness her interpretation of light and color though her art exhibition Spectral Fiction, which will be held until May 20.

37-year-old Cagi is an artist whose work interprets fantasy and the unconscious human condition. Her art carries cultural, political and cultural bonds.

In her previous exhibitions, such as 2012's Rumah Prahara and 2013's Numbers, held for the Jogja Biennale, her work featured paintings, drawings, embroidery and clothing. Cagi is also a fashion stylist, interior designer and bag designer with the brand SRW.

Agung Hujatnikajennong, who curates Spectral Fiction, said this installation needed to be understood as a project about light and color.

“I don’t carry any burden to transform my understanding in the execution process. There is no certain political culture. There is no narration. I just let the light interact with the audience in the installation room,” Cagi explains.

Spectral Fiction is divided into three parts. In the first part, Cagi uses the medium of painting to showcase light and color. For this series, Cagi creates her own color spectrum and adds fluorescent light to some of her paintings to generate reflections on the white wall in the installation room.

(Read also: Tension and disruption in the exhibition room)

In the second part, she works with resin, driven by the will to deliver light and color into the form of a digital screen.

For the third part, she collaborates with light expert Iskandar Loedin to present atmospheric situations.

“I’d like to show a change in optical ecology, how light interacts with the environment and creates different perceptions, depending on our logic and the psychology of the eye of the beholder,” she said when asked about her ambitions for the exhibition.

“After the journey, I try to understand human perception as fantasy and reality. Then I realized, in reality itself there are so many things we fail to understand,” she said.

“Lately, I have enjoyed learning about nature through small things in our daily life that we often forget. Just like breathing, and light. This has affected me. It makes me grateful and I think life is more beautiful.”

Syagini’s exhibition is showing at ROH Projects at the Equity Tower in Central Jakarta. (kes)

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