ROH is delighted to present a selection of drawings by I Gusti Ayu Kadek Murniasih "Murni" (1966-2006) for the inaugural edition of Art Jakarta Papers.
Widely recognised for her paintings, Murni forged a radical visual idiom in which the female body, complicated and insistently desiring, emerged as a declaration of autonomous subjectivity. The presentation’s title Nggak Nyenyak, taken from one of Murni's drawings, translates to "restless sleep" and designates the nocturnal circumstances under which many of these drawings were made. Murni was known to interrupt her own rest, committing to paper the procession of images that emerged in her dreams. These drawings are thus a privileged site into Murni at her most unmediated, underscoring how they functioned for her as both psychic release and record, documenting an inner world where pleasure, threat, and humour are explored.
ROH
Booth A2
I Gusti Ayu Kadek Murniasih
Nggak Nyenyak
Art Jakarta Papers
City Hall
Pondok Indah Mall 3
5 – 8 February 2026
For more information please visit artjakarta.com
I Gusti Ayu Kadek Murniasih "Murni" (1966-2006) painted her pains and fantasies with humour and honesty: sharp objects piercing through erotic body parts, or animals and vegetation morphing into alien-like creatures. In her world, female subjects unabashedly embrace pleasure; amorphous, grotesque bodies transform from passive to active; and exaggerated erotic body parts appear alive and, at times, sacred. Together, her works paint a striking picture of an artist breaking free — from social convention, from the demands of the art world, from the pain of a difficult past and from the stereotypes of what a woman, a Balinese, and an artist could create.