Citra Sasmita resides and works in Denpasar. She studied literature at Udayana University and physics at Ganesha University of Education. Citra sharpened her skill as an artist after joining a theater group in the university and became the short story illustrator in Bali Post. Exhibited in Bali Art Intervention #1 (2016), her work caught public attention because it was considered to depict the social pressure on Balinese women. Citra was involved in various exhibitions, such as Merayakan Murni, Sudakara Artspace Sanur, Bali (2016); Mabesikan Project, Art for Social Change Presentation, Salihara, Jakarta (2017); Redraw III: Ugahari, Edwin’s Gallery, Jakarta (2018); and Synthesis (Wonders of Indonesia), National Gallery Kvadrat 500, Bulgaria (2019). Citra also became the Gold Winner of the UOB Painting of the Year (2017). Her most recent solo exhibition entitled Under the Skin was held in the REDBASE, Yogyakarta (2018).
Citra Sasmita wants to invite us to see how hard it is for the Balinese kakawin to be like the Javanese canon. Even if there are canon narratives, especially the Balinese babad, it can never be separated from the canon narratives in Java. Such a canon text tends to be “official”, masculine, and written by royal people, which, in Citra’s view, merely accommodates the ideas of elite men in the palace. Kakawin, that was originated from Bali, is more fragmental (not in the form of epics or chronicles) and generally was written by non-royal people. In her work, Citra tries to present a new context, reconstructing historical (old) narratives such as war and sexuality narratives. In Citra’s narrative, the female character becomes the center of the narration. Therefore, the heroic and protagonist characters that have been displayed through masculine perspectives, can be redefined with different perspectives.
