Citra Sasmita

Born in Bali, 1990. Lives and works in Bali.
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Citra Sasmita is a contemporary artist from Bali whose work focuses on unraveling the myths and misconceptions of Balinese art and culture. She is also deeply invested in questioning a woman’s place in the social hierarchy and seeks to upend the normative construct of gender.

Since 2019, Sasmita has been working on the Timur Merah Project series, which reflects the Kamasan Balinese painterly language that she has been developing in her practice. It represents a geography of female figures, fires, and various natural elements, composed whimsically in an unfolding of pansexual energy. While rooted in mythological thinking with Hindu and Balinese-specific references, the scenes are equally part of the contemporary process of imagining a secular and empowered mythology for a post-patriarchal future.

Sasmita has been exhibited internationally at various institutions and biennales including Kathmadu Triennale, Kathmandu (2022); Biennale Jogja, Yogyakarta (2019); and Garden of Six Seasons, ParaSite, Hong Kong (2020). Her most recent exhibition entitled Ode To The Sun (2020) was held at Yeo Workshop, Singapore. In 2017, she was a Gold Winner of the UOB Painting of the Year.

Photo credit: Gus Agung, Niskala Studio.