Haiza Putti

Diaristic canvas as memory capsules
By Dương Mạnh Hùng

Haiza Putti, ‘Salutan Oranye #1,’ 2024, oil and acrylic paint, crayon on canvas, 80 x 100cm (left), and ‘Salutan Oranye #1,’ 2024, oil and acrylic paint, crayon on canvas, 100 x 150cm (right). Image courtesy of M. Revaldi.

Since her first days dabbling in painting at the Institut Teknologi Bandung, young Jakarta-based artist Haiza Putti has been enraptured by the canvas. To her, this common material is not a stretched-out and stiff base upon which paint can be splattered and layered. In fact, it reminds her of fabric, especially the Minangnese textile rolls collected by her grandmother, through their dynamic texture and pliant folds. This sense of tactile fascination propels her to conceptualise and incorporate the canvas into her practice as a material in its own right, continuously experimenting with its limitless potential to create versatile painting-based installations.

Haiza Putti, 'The eyes were closed, so they passed on’, 2024, oil and acrylic paint on canvas and wooden chair, 550 x 48 cm (canvas); 45 x 30 cm (canvas hanger); 50 x 70 x 90 cm (chair); 123 x 18 cm (chair leg). Image courtesy of M. Revaldi.

This experimental trajectory has become accentuated in her first solo show, titled ‘Menjabat tangan ingatan’ (2024) hosted at RUBANAH Underground Hub, particularly through a painting-beside-itself style artwork, titled 'The eyes were closed, so they passed on’ (2024). A cream-coloured canvas roll unfurls from the ceiling, with its top edge daintily wrapped around a wooden peg. A milky way upon which variegated supernovas blossoms, this multichromatic stream perches itself atop a collapsed wood-carved rocking chair, similar to the one that belonged to Putti’s late grandfather. Whether viewers choose to read the canvas as Putti’s attempt to hold onto to her grandfather’s memories, or as a subtle transfer of knowledge and traditions from him to her, the simplicity of this painting-installation still stirs up dormant emotions embedded in all of us. 

The unbearably imperceptible tug of memories thus permeates the other works in Putti’s show. ‘Menjabat tangan ingatan’ (2024), the homonymous painting that anchors the show, appears as an ephemeral mirage seen through a murky lens. Alluvial gradients of fuschia pink and cordyline violet seem to evaporate then condense around the rim of this invisible lens, highlighting the milky white centre stage, where amorphous figures stand, kneel, and pray. It is later revealed that this surreal scene is an actual manifestation of Putti’s earliest memory of her mother’s death, where family members were bathing her lifeless body according to Islamic funeral rites. The visual lightness of the painting stands in contrast to the heavy undertone of death and separation, emphasising the elusivity of memories and the post-traumatic weight of loss that one might carry unconsciously. By zeroing in on her personal recollection––a visual attempt to express and digest her feelings, Putti taps into a semi-universal experience, a collective memory that besieges all of us who have had to bid farewell to our loved ones. 

Haiza Putti, ‘Menjabat tangan ingatan’, 2024, oil and acrylic paint, crayon on canvas, 90 x 140cm. Image courtesy of M. Revaldi.

Whether exploring the multifaceted expression of painting as a canvas-based medium, or deep-diving into her personal vault of memories in search of inspirations or references, Putti maintains a refreshingly emotive approach to her art. Confessional in concepts and messages, while fluctuating between expressionism and impressionism in painterly style, Putti continuously transforms her canvas into a diary page where she can explore and process her memories, particularly those deeply lodged into her subconscious and capable of invoking visceral emotions from audiences.

Click here to read our dialogue with Haiza Putti, where she speaks about drawing inspiration from her family’s history and exploring her Minangnese roots in ‘Menjabat tangan ingatan’, her first solo show at RUBANAH Underground Hub.