Alas-alasan

Alas-alasan is an exhibition of new textiles and sculptures by Naarm-based artist Leo Bagus Purnomo, featuring traditional batik motifs of animals and plants, where the forest symbolises an in-between place between the earth and gunung (or 'mountain') that is symbolic of heaven.

Leo 's works draw on traditional Indonesian batik methods alongside screenprinting and painterly gestures, asking questions about what resists and what seeps through—not just wax and dye, but also memory and belonging. Alas-alasan is a traditional Javanese batik motif that symbolises life and fertility through its depiction of the forest and wildlife. In local traditions, the forest also represents a sacred realm where spirits dwell and mythological heroes journey. This deep connection and sense of harmony with the world and its beings, both visible and invisible, lies at the heart of Javanese culture. But what does this mean for Leo, an Indonesian diaspora artist living on stolen land?

In recent decades, anthropology has undergone what's called the 'ontological turn,' in which scholars argue that the task of anthropology is not merely to identify social relations, but to understand how those relations are conceptualised on their own terms. For example, rather than assuming kinship or community as universal structures, this approach examines how different cultures imagine these categories, which may include non-human, non-sentient, and immaterial beings. In this context, anthropology can be understood as the practice of comparing anthropologies, demanding the understanding that translation must account for differences that cannot be fully reconciled.

Yet Leo finds in art things that cannot be articulated in words and moments that seem to reconcile what he cannot yet grasp. In a way, these works become more than a material exploration of cultural identity and tradition; they also function as a lens for considering what harmony and a deeper connection to the world and its beings mean in the here and now.