Citra Sasmita: Into Eternal Land: A Solo Exhibition at Barbican, London

Embarking onto this site-specific ritual that Sasmita has carefully orchestrated, the journey Into Eternal Land begins with ornate strips of cowhides suspended over antique wooden pillars punctuated across the space. The artist transports us to a time before, of migration and bustling trade routes in Asia—the fervent pursuit of new lands and resources for survival and continuity. Antique Dutch coins from 1945 and brightly coloured beads adorn each piece of cowhide, tracing the numerous wrinkles and creases across the leather, which serve as markers for memory and passing time, at the same time resembling the landscapes of Nature. Sasmita likens the cowhides to our own bodies as vessels for memory, where stretch marks on our skin carry the memories of our ancestors and that of our human experience, of migration. These cowhides undulate over antique wooden pillars that have been carefully sourced and are characteristic in the homes of Royal families in Bali, where the carvings of flowers are more complex and feature three petals than those in ordinary homes. Reminiscent of shelter and civilisation, these ancient wooden pillars—all salvaged and incomplete—echo the dilapidation of ancestral heritage, where there no longer are foundations to anchor the spirits of our pasts. 

Following the state of enlightenment, a vessel is conceived by Sasmita to hold and protect such divine energy. Act Two consists of two temples, where a pair of giant creatures appear to be at meditative rest, enveloped in cascades of alternating black and white braids of hair. Here, Sasmita focuses on how to manifest transcendence within a space. Balance and harmony underlie every aspect of this section, from the doubling of the mythological creatures that serve as guardians of heaven and hell, to the black and white braids of hair symbolising yin and yang. An antique mask rests atop each ‘temple’, one representing masculine energy while the other feminine, as seen from the subtle differences in their features, the latter sporting gentler lines and curves. Similar to spiritual masks used in Balinese rituals and made from wood growing in cemeteries that are cut only on sacred days, they almost function as the Hipotalamus of the brain—the hormone that controls all bodily functions. Sasmita’s iconography continues to suffuse the space, this time on python skins that form the bodies of these celestial guardians, emphasising yet again the motif of the snake omnipresent in this exhibition. Serpents are often present in many mythologies, from the ‘ouroboros’ in Ancient Egyptian and Greek mythology to the ‘naga’ deities in Hindu and Buddhist legends, associated with the symbol of infinity and eternal renewal. In Balinese culture in particular, they also represent spiritual power and the balance between opposing forces, where the coiled snake or ‘Kudalini’ is said to harness primal energy at the base of its spine, waiting to be awakened and rise through the chakras towards spiritual enlightenment. 

For the Epilogue, Sasmita has envisioned a sensorial golden mandala for visitors to gather around, pause and take a moment for quiet reflection. She pens a translation of a fourteenth century Javanese poem, Kidung Wargasari, in turmeric powder, whose fragrance innocuously envelopes the space and reinvigorates our senses. The poem speaks of the year’s most fertile season, a time eagerly anticipated and celebrated through poetry recitation and rituals in Bali. Above it, a Kamasan canvas laced with fire edges, depicting the seven chakras, hangs like a stairway to heaven. Adam and Eve, the epitome of cardinal desire and temptation, form the base of the canvas and lead upwards to eventual enlightened consciousness at the crown chakra where everything—body and soul—comes full circle.