This work uses textiles as a medium that attend to the suppressed presence of women within archaeology and other representations of human history. For Sharjah Biennial 16, this work gestures towards the political motivations shaping science and the construction of gender within human history, using the case study of an excavation that started in 2003 in the Liang Bua cave in Flores, Indonesia. The fossils Indicated a new species of human, the Homo Floresiensis, who lived from 60,000 tο 100,000 years ago.

Her Cabinet of Curiosities (2024) was created with insight gleaned from field study trips to learn from the women of Flores about their deep connections to the earth and to weaving culture. The installation contains fabric replicas of fossil bones and other archaeological artefacts hand-stitched in a laboratory setting, challenging the marginalization of Indigenous communities and so-called 'women's knowledge by relocating them into the realm of scientific research.

In collaboration with Mama Kristina Meti, Mesayu Ariza Puspita, Awanda Brima Destia, Marylin Jessica Wibowo, Levinthius Herlyanto and N Sabar Oktavani.

Commissioned by Sharjah Art Foundation and CHAT (Centre for Heritage, Arts and Textile), Hong Kong.

Caption written by: Alia Swastika