In the last few years, Indonesian artist Murni has begun to paint subjects that to outside eyes are not just original, but provocative and witty. Murni’s name means ‘pure’ in its abbreviated form, her work, however, is still considered by many Balinese to be somewhat if not blatantly “impure”, and not yet “accepted” in mainstream galleries. This resistance to her art, combined with her personality, has strengthened Murni’s resolve to continue working on her own terms, thus claiming her own unique vision of freedom.

Gusti Ayu Kadek Murniasih paints wacky and wonderful canvases unlike anything seen in Bali or Indonesia, or indeed, anywhere else that I know of. Murni (as she prefers to be called), was born in 1966, near Tabanan in central Bali. Moving with her parents to Sulawesi, on a
government transmigration program, she grew up with poor access to schooling.