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View all search results'IWA #4' affirms the position of Indonesian women artists
Marking its final chapter, Indonesian Women Artists #4 traces two decades of research and exhibition practice while presenting new works that reflect unease, memory and shifting social realities.
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Threaded time: A visitor passes beneath Fibers of Time, an installation by Citra Sasmita in collaboration with Cinta Bumi Artisan at the Indonesian Women Artists (IWA) #4 exhibition at the National Gallery of Indonesia in Central Jakarta, on April 9, 2026. (JP/Sylviana Hamdani)
Sylviana Hamdani
Contributor/Jakarta
Long dismissed as the “weaker gender,” women have time and again asserted their place alongside men. Indonesia’s art world is no exception.
Until the early 2000s, documentation of Indonesian women artists remained scarce. Their names appeared in a few exhibition catalogues and reviews, but rarely as part of a broader narrative.
Three art writers and researchers, Carla Bianpoen, Farah Wardani and Wulan Dirgantoro, then decided to study Indonesian women artists more seriously. Their efforts were met with skepticism. A prominent gallery owner told them there were no Indonesian women artists, and that their search would be futile.
And yet, they uncovered 34 Indonesian women artists across the generations, whose profiles were later compiled in the groundbreaking book Indonesian Women Artists: The Curtain Opens (2007).
That same year, in collaboration with the Cemara Enam Foundation, the National Gallery of Indonesia presented an exhibition under the same title, bringing wider public attention to their works.
