A space to breathe and create
By Rega Ayundya Putri, with Nabila Giovanna W

‘A Day in the Life’ is a series by A&M where we invite artists to share a day in their life through images accompanied by brief descriptions.

Rega Ayundya Putri (b. 1988) is an Indonesian artist and lecturer who lives and works in Bandung. Rega’s practice allows her breathing room in the turbulence of contemporary culture. This purpose manifests itself into large-scale intricate works, made with ballpoint pen on paper. Presently, her research and artistic practice revolves around speculative fiction, where she imagines the fates of animals who are mutated because of environmental decay.

Rega was recently commissioned by Museum MACAN to create ‘Fauna Wastopia’, a child-friendly art room within its Children Art Space as part of their ‘Voice Against Reason’ (2023) exhibition. On display are 28 drawings of imaginary mutant species, set against the backdrop of a decaying city. This commission comprises visual, audio and interactive activities to explore the dangers of poorly handled waste towards the environment.

Let’s see what Rega is up to now:

A mezzanine studio near the rooftop. Photo by Bayu R. Maulana.

My studio is on the mezzanine floor of my house. I usually start working at my studio around 10am after I feed my cats, have a quick breakfast and do a little cleaning of my house, because my cats always make the floor dirty. I use my studio to create drawings in various sizes, and digital work.

My fan falls down very often because the cats need more space to sleep.

My studio is also where my cats sleep. They follow me everywhere I go, and try their best to sabotage my working hours. The drawings you see here are from an exhibition I had at D’Gallerie Jakarta in 2022. It was a duet show with the artistIka Vantiani.

Sadly, there are not many works to see in the studio right now, because I just finished my project recently. October and November were very busy for me! These past two weeks, I could finally have some rest, and had time to organise and review things.

Like today, I have to review an interview from an art residency programme that I gave last month in the Koganecho area, in Yokohama, Japan. I was nominated through Indeks, an independent art research initiative to join Koganecho Area Management Center’s residency programme.

During my residency, I made a fictional museum called ‘Karazoological Museum’. Taken from the Japanese word for crows, karasu, ‘Karazoological Museum’ is a museum specifically dedicated to rare species of crows whose mutations were triggered by electronic waste. It was exhibited as part of the Koganecho International Artist Network 2023 group exhibition.

I often take photos of my works at my backyard, where I dry my clothes. The sun there is so nice!

When I returned to Indonesia, I was invited by Museum MACAN to present my previous project, ‘Mirageology’, in their recent exhibition, ‘Voice Against Reason’. Mirageology is a speculative art project that started during the Lokus Foundation residency programme. It presents animals in the dystopian future that have undergone mutation as a result of environmental degradation. At Museum MACAN, ‘Mirageology’ is exhibited in the children’s activity area, where anyone can make their own mutant species.

This zine that I made with Irfan Hendrian compiles all the species from the ‘Mirageology project’. If you are interested, they are currently being sold at Museum MACAN and Art Agenda Jakarta!

I need to work harder so I can complete my Akira collection!

When I get stuck with my art, I like to read comic books, and I guess this is also where I get most of my inspiration. I have been a keen reader of Japanese manga since I was a little kid. Now I mostly read them digitally, but when I have extra money, I try to buy the physical copies. Their drawings amaze me so much that I have to see them physically!

These are some of the manga collections I have at home. Most of the comic books that I have collected are at my parents’ house. It’ll be amazing if I can open my own library someday!

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All images are courtesy of the artist.

About the Artist

Rega Ayundya Putri (b. Indonesia, 1988) is a Bandung-based artist, a lecturer who teaches in two universities, and also a pawrent of 11 cats. Rega describes her drawing practice as a form of escapism–a deliberate channeling of the turbulent currents that surge within her mind in an effort to create a personal space to breathe and stand against the noise of a tumultuous, contemporary culture. Her recent research tackles the topics of speculative fiction, presenting a collection of drawings of animals in the dystopian future that have undergone mutation as a result of environmental degradation.