Elia Nurvista

(b. 1983)

Elia Nurvista explores a wide range of art mediums with an interdisciplinary approach and often intersects with politics of food. Through food, she intends to scrutinize power, social, and economic inequality in this world. Using several mediums from workshop, study group, publication, site specific, performance, video and art installations, she explores the social implications of the food system to critically address the wider issues such as ecology, gender, class and geopolitics. In 2015 she initiated Bakudapan, a food study group, with colleagues from various disciplines. Bakudapan runs on the principle of complementarity and camaraderie between its members. She is also part of Struggles for Sovereignty, the solidarity platform on Land, Water, Farming, Food which aim to build lasting solidarity between groups in Indonesia and trans-national who are engaged with struggles for the right to self-determination over the basic resources that our individual and collective bodies need.

She has participated in several exhibitions including Sharjah Biennial 15 in Sharjah (2023), Dhaka Art Summit in Dhaka (2020), Karachi Biennale in Karachi (2019) and ‘The 9th Asia Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art’, at QAGOMA, Brisbane (2018) among others. She was nominated for Visible award (2017) for socially-engaged practices. She also curated Jogja Biennale Equator VI; Indonesia with Oceania (2021), ADAM LAB at TPAC (Taipei Performing Arts Center) with Transient Collective (2020). In 2023, she was granted the Artistic Chair from Nantes Institute for Advanced Study, France and became a fellowship researcher. She lives and works between Yogyakarta and Berlin.