Yeo Workshop is pleased to return to Frieze New York this spring, presenting works by Southeast Asian artists Citra Sasmita, Maryanto and Noor Mahnun (Anum) in a joint booth with G Gallery, Seoul. Centered on themes of memory, identity, and the residues of colonialism, the presentation brings together diverse media and contexts to visualise personal experiences and collective histories, rendering the conditions of the Asian diaspora as a shared environment.
Citra Sasmita reimagines Balinese mythologies and iconography to challenge patriarchal structures and colonial legacies in her Kamasan paintings. This technique of Kamasan painting, which dates from the fifteenth century and depicts Hindu epics and Indonesian mythologies, was historically practiced exclusively by men and often portray women as sexualised or evil figures. Sasmita reclaims this tradition and depicts her fiery protagonists as powerful women. Her expanded practice spans painting, textile, sculpture, and installation, often incorporating materials such as cowhide, hair, and ceremonial cloth to build a universe of empowered, divine cosmology.
Maryanto’s paintings, executed using a technique called scratching, reveal the harsh realities of environmental degradation and exploitation in Jakarta, Indonesia. His works investigate the impact of industrialisation, pollution, and resource exploitation on the natural world, revealing the harsh realities in his home country Indonesia. Through allegorical scenes of deforestation and mining zones, Maryanto presents landscapes as contested terrains, charged with both human struggle and resilience. His practice reflects an urgent ecological and political consciousness around the encroachment of the environment, bridging local histories with global questions of exploitation, survival, and renewal.
Extending the narrative towards the autobiographical, Anum’s still life and domestic scenes are informed by her personal life and surroundings, fusing elements of realism, allegory and the whimsical. She develops three new paintings for Frieze New York, where everyday objects, interiors, and her environment are rendered in traditional European oil painting style—a lasting influence from her time doing at Hochschule für Bildende Künste, Braunschweig. Her practice foregrounds the everyday as a site of both intimacy and reflection, layering visual references that raise questions around identity, femininity, and Southeast Asia’s shifting cultural histories.
These three distinct practices converge to offer nuanced perspectives on Southeast Asia’s histories and contemporary realities, where personal narratives intersect with broader cultural and political forces. Together, they invite audiences to reflect on the layered complexities of identity, environment, and heritage in our rapidly changing world.