A new work by Indonesian-Australian artist Jumaadi, Displaced Goddess has been commissioned by the Gallery to coincide with the concurrent exhibition Encounters with Bali. Jumaadi was invited to be part of the recent Moscow Biennale, and this new work offers viewers a multi-media experience featuring video performance, contemporary shadow play and installation works.
Paper cut-outs and projected silhouettes bear witness to the tensions within agrarian culture. Jumaadi’s story relates Sedana searching for his lover, Dewi Sri, the goddess of rice. On this epic journey Sedana follows Dewi Sri’s footprints and observes rice fields being transformed into housing estates and factories, farmers taking on new roles as city labourers, cattle being mistreated prior to slaughter for human consumption and rampant corruption. Sedana becomes despondent as Sri seems beyond his reach. On his travels, he recites poetry, ‘I dream you are the forest and I the wingless moon travelling into the night. I dream you are the river, and I the canoe …..’.
Jumaadi has a Bachelor of Fine Art (2000) and a Masters of Fine Art from the National Art School (2008) and in the last fifteen years has developed his art practice to become a significant figure in the international artist community. Since 1999 he has exhibited in over twenty solo exhibitions and forty group exhibitions. He has been selected for inclusion in several prestigious international exhibitions including the Moscow Biennale (2014), Jakarta Biennale (2011), Istanbul Student International Triennale (2010) among many others. He has been the recipient of eighteen major prizes, awards and residencies.
Jumaadi is represented by Watters Gallery.
Saturday 3 May - Sunday 13 July
