Murni’s works reimagine social conventions and taboos with her signature wit, humour and playfulness. For instance, the comical and light-hearted depiction here of the penis as a handphone that has been kept inside a cabinet for instance robs conventional symbols of power and dominance of their sovereignty.

Unrestricted by conventional social and aesthetic Balinese values, Murni inevitably bewildered the Balinese art world in the late 1990s as her works stood in sharp contrast to a culture that favoured women’s purity and passivity. Refusing to confine her creativity and sexuality within social convention, Murni subverted the ubiquitous male gaze and paved the way for other women within her context to centre their own subjectivity in their art—earning her the rightful label as a pioneer.