For the debut edition of Hive Art Fair in Seoul, Korea, Gajah Gallery brings into dialogue six artists whose practices challenge conventional understandings of Southeast Asia, urging reconsideration of the mechanisms that shape notions of regionality.
Rooted in Balinese perceptions of identity and tradition, I Gusti Ayu Kadek Murniasih (Murni) and Jemana Murti approach personal narratives from contrasting positions. Murni constructs an intensely personal and vividly imagined world centred on female identity and lived experience, while Murti’s practice navigates tensions between cultural preservation and technological advancement through deconstructing and reassembling cultural symbols.
The Minangkabau artists from West Sumatra—Yunizar, Erizal As, and Ibrahim—work through intuitive and symbolic registers to reframe questions of identity and the human condition. Yunizar’s work is marked by an instinctive and playful figuration, while Erizal As and Ibrahim distil form and memory into gestural abstract compositions.
Rounding out the presentation is Kayleigh Goh, whose works explore the psychological and emotional dimensions of healing through painting and spatial experience. Utilising site-specific and architectural materials to depict the emotional pendulum of presence and absence in city life, her paintings draw from the quiet resonance of urban architecture, transforming it into reflective spaces shaped by stillness and introspection.
