Ferial Affif is a “flexible” artist who has been actively producing art for over 10 years. Currently, she lives in Yogyakarta. What makes her flexible is her “borderless” style in producing work of art. She often wears many hats, working as a facilitator, curator, writer, researcher, producer, etc. She is always attracted to human relationship and the relevant life stories, particularly those about environment, gender, and history. Her works have been displayed in many cities in Indonesia and abroad, including Singapore, Myanmar, Japan, South Korea, India, Sri Lanka, Madagascar, etc. In 2012, Ferial joined Lifepatch, a communities’ initiative on art, science, and technology. Since 2018, in collaboration with Putri Wartawati, Ridwan Rau Rau, and Yayasan Lingkar Semanggi (Tangerang), she has been initiating Expedition Camp, a biennial forum for encounter and sharing dedicated to performance artists throughout Asia.
When exploring the eastern part of Sumatra in Residensi Kelana and Rimpang Nusantara programs, Ferial is interested in investigating the narratives telling about unknown heroines or female figures, which have never been mentioned in the mainstream history. To dig into their stories, Ferial visited different sites, studied archives, interviewed resource persons, and collected any stories where myths and histories seem to be mixed up. Following the research, Ferial collaborated with younger female artists to depict the image of these heroines in some stories. Her personal exploration later developed into a collective work aiming at restoring the forgotten histories.
Photo source: archive.ivaa-online.org
