Tapestry of Encounters: Contemporary Indonesian Art

Exhibition Details

Date: 19 August to 6 November 2026

Venue: Institute for Australian and Asian Arts and Culture, Building EA, Parramatta South Campus, Western Sydney University

Gallery Opening Hours: Monday – Friday (9:30am – 5:00pm)

Contact: lindsay.liu@westernsydney.edu.au

E-Catalogue

The Institute for Australian and Asian Arts and Culture (IAC) at Western Sydney University proudly presents the first contemporary Indonesian art exhibition on our campus—an exhibition that is distinctive, provocative, and visually and intellectually stimulating.

The title Tapestry of Encounters evokes both diversity and connection. Bringing together ten contemporary artists, the exhibition offers a glimpse into the richness, complexity and dynamism of contemporary Indonesian art. Spanning painting, sculpture, installation, textiles and mixed media, the works reflect diverse regions, cultural traditions and heritages, personal histories and experiences, global influences, and social and political interrogations.

The exhibiting artists—Agus Wijaya, Citra Sasmita, Ari Bayuaji, Faelerie, Made Wiguna Valasara, Lutfi Yanuar, Anagard, I Made Widya Diputra, Antonio S. Sinaga and Desrat Fianda—represent different backgrounds and artistic trajectories, including artists working in Indonesia and Indonesian artists based in Australia. Collectively, they demonstrate that contemporary Indonesian art is not defined by a single narrative or identity, but is shaped by a vibrant diversity of traditions, forms, materials and practices, and by ongoing creative transformation.

The exhibition reveals multiple encounters: between tradition and experimentation, memory and imagination, individual experience and collective histories, materials and meaning, identity and social realities, and between Indonesia and the wider world. The artists explore themes ranging from mythology, ritual and cultural memory to environmental issues, migration, urban life and the changing nature of identity. Across their works, inherited forms are reimagined, materials transformed, social realities questioned, and new ways of seeing and belonging take shape.

Presented at Western Sydney University, in one of Australia’s most culturally diverse regions, the exhibition also reflects the many histories, communities and cultures that intersect here. It highlights the University’s education connection with Indonesia through our Surabaya campus, creating an important bridge between our home campus in Western Sydney and our offshore campus in Surabaya, and strengthening connections between Australia and Indonesia through art, culture and knowledge.

A further encounter takes place between the artworks and their audiences. For many visitors, this may be their first encounter with contemporary Indonesian art. Tapestry of Encounters offers an opportunity to encounter Indonesia through the diverse perspectives of artists responding to their histories, environments, materials and contemporary lives. In this meeting between artworks and viewers, new connections and understandings may emerge.

The exhibition is presented in partnership with Redbase Gallery, Sydney and Kabo Art Collector, Melbourne.

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