Bandrek (2026)

a journey of taste, a food for thought

Bandrek is a traditional drink originated from Java that was once considered as a luxurious drink, due to the price of the spices that it uses. Bandrek keeps the body warm and healthy, however due to more trades coming in, people preferred to drink tea and coffee instead, making this drink lose its popularity. traditional drinks such as Bandrek is still consumed mostly in Java, yet for this artwork I have solidified the drink into something edible. In this capitalist world, many search for convenience instead of taking their time to enjoy something, as they’re always on a rush. displayed in a fine dining setup, comes a menu list of all the ingredients used and a thank you card from Hinda Belanda (also known as the Dutch East Indies, a name they gave to Indonesia before we became independent).

known for its spices, Indonesia was colonised for more than 300 years for them to trade on spices, leaving us and our soil overworked and over-consumed. For this project, I want people to be able to understand the history and the origin of the food and or drink that they consume, especially when it’s coming from a place rich in culture. Speculative Kitchens has inspired me to create something edible, that as you ingest and digest it you would understand the history, the violence, the lost lives of the innocent and the silenced. a journey of taste not just through different flavours, but also different stories that made the people in Indonesia, especially in South Maluku experience in the hundreds of years of brutality and colonisation. giving the soil and the spices a voice to tell their own stories, what was hidden, and what was forgotten.

a poster and menu that's made for this project, portraying both the past and the present, the impact of colonisation until this modern day.

this project was a part of an Open Call hosted by Meta Media at Gallery Novo in Pula, Croatia. the short residency is with the theme Speculative Kitchens where we had the chance to explore more about Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK), along with eco-semiotics and bio-materials. this week long residency with a total of 12 international artists was curated by Laura Rodriguez and Daria Testo. visit here for more information.

alon-alon waton kelakon (2025)

alon-alon waton kelakon means to slow down, or to do things at your own pace to achieve the best result in Javanese. living in a fast paced capitalist life makes us forget how to slow down and feel guilty when we need to rest. this film shows how important it is to come back to tradition in this modern westernised world

continuing my research in bio-materials, I started experimenting with the same method to create bio-leather made from seaweed and organic food waste. as a part of my slowness practice, I’ve started to make a Javanese traditional health drink called jamu. jamu has many health benefits and I’ve been drinking it weekly as well as making sheets of bio-leather weekly. accompanied with a short visual poetry film, I will elaborate my journey on practicing slowness in my every- day life; unlearning to learn more about myself. to heal within to then heal those around me.

inverted black and white microscopic pictures of the jamu leather

kembali (2025)

kembali means to come back/to go back in Indonesian. this was my first performative art piece which I combined with a short film and a display of my bio-plastic jewellery made from seaweed. I have struggled to find a sense of belonging due to the effects of colonisation, feeling foreign wherever I went. growing up in Jakarta, I overlooked traditional beliefs, but now I seek to reconnect with my heritage as part of my journey to heal and find a sense of home. inspired by the Balinese way of living, Tri Hita Karana (three ways to live a harmonious life) has guided me through out this project. the artworks on display reflect the contrast between Indonesia and the Netherlands, mirroring my own identity and thoughts. also embracing my Javanese roots, I’ve created seaweed-inspired jewellery for a Tari Topeng (Mask Dance) performance, blending my interest in bio-materials and jewellery design.

mind over matter (2024)

this was an art project for a Bio-Design class where we focused on the growth of slime mould. slime mould is mainly studied for their intelligence as they are able to navigate routes and leave traces wherever they go - mimicking the metro/train systems. this ex- periment is to see how it will survive and thrive in a raised platform like a sculpture. I sculpted a human face from clay and vacuum formed it to pour some agar in it to let it set in the mould. as it sets I started to randomly scatter some oats as a food source for the slime mould to grow. as I struggle with depression and anxiety for my whole life, I had the vision of letting it grow in my head; looking like an infection/contamination. to my surprise, the slime mould kept growing around the forehead which then leave a trace of contamination, and it travelled towards the nose, which was also interesting as I always struggle to breathe whenever I have intense anxiety episodes.

mycelium & kombucha (2023)

in the first semester of doing my Master's degree, I've decided to take the bio design class which mainly focused on growing materials from mycelium and kombucha. the students were free to create what they want-the possibilities are endless. with my fascination in the human organs, I have created a heart and a brain mycelium sculpture, along with a eerie hand and figures kombucha sculpture. all of the details are explained in the lab journals. from being a product designer that was taught that we need to create a product that lasts forever, I had to unlearn that to create products that will lasts as long as the average human life, or even less, so that we won't create extra waste on this planet.