Born in Bandung 1961
Arahmaiani’s work grapples with contemporary politics, violence, critique of capital, the female body and her own identity, which, although Muslim, is able to also mediate between Islamic, Hindu, Buddhist, and animist beliefs. She often uses her public presence in order to attract attention to violence in general, and violence against women, or female discrimination, in Indonesia’s Islamic society in particular. Since the September 11 incident, she has combined her critical attitude towards Islam with a fight against its general stigmatization. Beside working with various communities of artists, activists, academics in various locations in Indonesia and in the world, since 2010 she has been working with Tibetan monks in the Tibet Plateau dealing with environmental issues. She started her long-term, community-based art project titled “Flag Project” in 2006 initially developed with the Islamic boarding school “Pesantren Amumarta” in Yogyakarta, and since then further developed with direct collaboration with communities across the world. Arahmaiani is a guest lecturer at Passau University, Germany (2012-ongoing), and has previously taught at Guangzhou Academy of Fine Arts (2006-2008).
Arahmaini’s works has been featured at 2nd Asia Pacific Triennale (1996); Havana Biennale(1997); Sao Paulo Biennale (2002); Lyon Biennale (2000); Werklietz Biennale (2000); Gwangju Biennale(2002); Biennale of Moving Image, Geneva (2003); Venice Biennale (2003); World Social Forum, Mumbai, India (2004); “Global Feminism”, Brooklyn Museum (2007); 3rd International Calligraphy Biennale, Syarjah-Emirate (2008); “No More Bad Girl” Kunsthalle Exnergasse-Vienna (2009); “My Grandmother’s House” Bochum Museum-Germany (2010); “Flag Project” Museum of Contemporary Art, Shanghai (2011); “Woman in Between” Fukuoka Art Museum (2012); “Suspended History” Van Loon Museum (2013); “Fertility of the Mind” (solo show) Tyler Rollins Gallery, New York (2014); “Violence No More” (solo show) Haus am Dom, Frankfurt (2015); Kunming Biennale(2016); “Memory of Nature” SMAK Ghent Museum of Contemporary Art (2017); Yinchuan Biennale(2018); “Kedem-Kodem-Kadima” Tel Aviv Museum of Contemporary Art (2018); “Bruised: Art Action & Ecology in Asia” RMIT Gallery, Melbourne (2019); “Politics of Disaster.: Gender, Environment & Religion” PAV (Parte Arte Pivente) Turin, Italy (solo exhibition) (2020); “Re-Nature” Den Bosch, Netherland (2021); Documenta 15 – with Asia Art Archive Collective (2022); “Flag Project” (Turkish version) Istanbul Biennale (2022)
