Born in Tabanan, Bali, the Balinese/Indonesian artist Murni (1966-2006) lately reached international recognition. She was trained in painting with the artist I Dewa Putu Mokoh, based on local tradition. Coming originally from Pengosekan village, located near Ubud in Bali, this visual art of storytelling is based on ancient narratives – from sacred Hindu and Buddhist texts to old Balinese and Javanese folklore. Pengosekan paintings are characterized by their use of vibrant colors and abundant compositions, condensing daily life scenes, fauna and flora ornamentation, and mythological divinities.

The way Murni first adopted the codes of Pengosekan painting to better emancipate from it, progressively subverting the tradition into her own personal style from the early 1990s – with a minimalistic and also humorous and ironic twist – is remarkable. Especially given how she became a prominent figure in Balinese/Indonesian art; all the more so as a woman who made herself through an independent path. From 1995 onwards, she participated in numerous group exhibitions in Indonesia and internationally (Australia, Italy, Hong Kong…), thus revealing stunning compositions dealing with female identity, experience, and traumas, fighting against a lot of taboos in a patriarchal society. Indeed Murni’s intimate suffering must not be ignored when confronted with her seemingly erotic and, even to some extent, sadomasochist figures – at least her very explicit sexual imagery –, as she was victim of rape by her own father when she was nine years old.

While often misinterpreted as an outsider or “naïve” art, her very blunt sexual symbolism (assembling together phallus, vagina, and orifices in extravagant and multiple combinations), oversaturated and sometimes with glossy colors, proves to be a space of subjective exorcism and resilience, to overcome the trauma of the past and claim for the right to existence in spite of the intimate suffering. The objects she might introduce in her paintings, often seen as threats to the integrity of the distorted bodies, such as scissors, high heels, etc., also come into play as tools of transformation and empowerment. Challenging the role and position of women in the Asian art context, Murni made her works not only a personal battle and therapy but also a fearless feminist path for the new generation of Balinese artists following her, such as Imhathai Suwatthanasilp, Citra Sasmita, among others.