Working primarily from Jogjakarta where she is based, the works of Nadia Bamadhaj are strongly influenced by the architectures that surround the region; with a special focus on the myths that inspire the motifs that adorn the surrounding temples and palaces. As a portrait bearing the artist’s mother’s face with the torso of a bird, Bamadhaj’s depiction of women is strongly contrasted against the traditional portrayals of femininity in Javanese art. All at once, the work interweaves elements of mythology, traditional iconography, as well as personal memories to arrive at its totality which stands as a critique of the portrayal of women in traditional Javanese mythology and art; whilst simultaneously forwarding the proposition of forgotten shared genealogies as well as cultural parallels and divergences. Since the use of the bird icon is in part intended by the artist to portray, in visual terms, the various characteristics of her mother – “My mother has lived a tumultuous life, both with successes and extreme loss, but is never ‘unruffled’ ” – the success of the work lies in its ability to concurrently portray issues relating both to the personal and regional in simultaneity.
