The Water | The Body | The Spirit is a solo exhibition by Ari Bayuaji. Known for his use of discarded ropes and plastic pollution found along the coasts of Sanur, Bali, to give life to majestic textiles echoing the deep blue and turquoise hues of the ocean, Ari Bayuaji’s ongoing project Weaving the Ocean not only provides us with visually mesmerising art pieces, but also, crucially, enables his art-making process to respond to issues of sustainability, waste management and upcycling, through transforming useless materials into new objects of greater value, artistically and environmentally.
Part of Weaving the Ocean, Bayuaji’s latest exhibition at Mizuma Gallery Singapore titled The Water | The Body | The Spirit delves further into the condition of Bali’s seashores, from a socio-philosophical perspective. As the title suggests, the exhibition examines three fundamental aspects of the artist’s practice: the water, which is his source of inspiration, a bountiful womb that carries away and restores to the shore fragments of past lives; our human body as we intervene on and relate to the environment and to history; and the spirit, a mystical essence that conveys and transforms energy through regeneration. Water is a conduit, bearing stories from the past to the present and towing with it memories and heirlooms: the ropes, twisted and contorted by the depth of the sea, are reused and manipulated in Bayuaji’s tapestries; also, ceramic remains and found objects become compelling sculptures and mixed-media installations in the exhibition. Expanding on his initial intent of recycling only ropes, fishing nets and plastic bottles, in The Water | The Body | The Spirit, Bayuaji includes driftwood and sculptures, as well as terracotta and ceramic fragments that through the decades have morphed with the unresting sea. The Water | The Body | The Spirit embraces this dual existence of water, as an element and a transformative spirit, to conjure an “aesthetic of the organic” that honours both the communal making of the works and their tribute as art.
Immersed in the dreamscape of the gallery, we become part of the ocean’s aura of mystery where once “found” objects transition from death to new life.
Venue: Mizuma Gallery, 22 Lock Road, #01-34 Gillman Barracks, Singapore 108939
When: 25 Feb - 2 Apr 2023,
By: Mizuma Gallery
