Alexandra Karyn

Making sense of the world through art
By Nabila Giovanna W

Alexandra Karyn, 'Bearing Witness', 2019, land art at Rumah Tangga. Photo by Patar Pribadi. Image courtesy of the artist.

Alexandra Karyn (b. 1995), familiarly known as Karyn is an Indonesian artist, art teacher and activist. Her kinship with art existed long before she pursued her Bachelor of Arts (Hons) degree in Fine Arts at Northumbria University, England. At an early age of three, she wrote on her bedroom walls, and it became witness to the formation of her early imaginary worlds. Subsequently, she cites Tumblr soft grunge/fairy core aesthetics in 2011-2013 as her inspiration. She has also been influenced by the music and literature she has read, such as Nick Drake’s 1972 album, ‘Pink Moon’ and Água Viva by Clarice Lispector.

Irwan Ahmett, 'Pusaran Pusara', 2021, site-specific funeral with Alexandra Karyn narrating a eulogy in the Jakarta sea. Photo by Irwan Dinanto. Image courtesy of Irwan Ahmett.

Her works consist of elements of care, intimacy and compassion while at the same time voicing difficult issues such as climate crisis, grief and loss. In a collaborative production titled ‘Pusaran Pusara’ (2021), a group of creatives mourn the loss of Pulau Ubi (Ubi Island), an island off the coast of Jakarta, where soil was dug up to build Soekarno-Hatta International Airport in Cengkareng. They gathered above a bamboo raft, in a spot that was once a land; a eulogy was delivered and a headstone is placed to remember that the ambition of urbanisation has had a negative impact on the ecology. Karyn is one of the mourners and one of the eulogy narrators in this performance.

Alexandra Karyn, 'latitude in longitude', 2022, site, situation, and sound. Carried out within the framework of the Fellowship for Situated Practice Program of BAK, basis voor actuele kunst, Utrecht. Photo by Malik Asher. Image courtesy of the artist.

Elements of nature are involved in the creation of Karyn’s works too, such as the sea and the land around her. It may look subdued, but its existence is essential to deliver her messages of a world under crisis. Her fellowship at basis voor actuele kunst (BAK) in Utrecht resulted in ‘latitude in longitude’ (2022), a site, situation and sound work. Observants were invited to join her in places that overlook the sunrise, sunset, and moonrise along the Jakarta coastline. While listening to the movement of water, one could silently contemplate the changing faces of Jakarta, from a sinking mosque to land reclamation. In 'Bearing Witness' (2019), her surroundings in ‘Rumah Tangga’ an artist-run space, became her focal point. She witnessed how the different inhabitants: people, trees, grass, animals, coexist and support each other in their daily life.

Karyn writing in Rumah Tangga studio. Photo by Patar Pribadi. Image courtesy of the artist.

In Karyn’s works, she talks about the dangers of ecological crisis, land reclamation and capitalism persistently. But instead of pushing the message as a sound, she slips it gently into the everyday silences,  following “passive activism and active pacifism”, her method of putting forward care and compassion in advocacy work.

Click here to read our dialogue with Alexandra Karyn, where she shares about art as a language, her recent work in ‘Elegi Buih’ and ‘Hope’ for art education in Indonesia.