It began with a diary. Maharani Mancanagara found her late grandfather’s notebook, the scribbles of a man once locked away as a political prisoner, and suddenly the gaps in history books had names, faces and memories. That discovery didn’t just alter her – it redirected her entirely, setting her up as a storyteller for those who were quietly erased.
Her chosen medium is turmeric. Yes, the kitchen spice, but in her hands it stops being culinary and becomes alchemical: a root that carries survival, wisdom, pre-colonial knowledge passed through generations despite colonial disruption. Its yellow stains aren’t just pigment, they’re testimony. What makes this project compelling is how it refuses to sit still as ‘art’. It doubles as memorial, as medicine, as a bridge between West Sumatra and Southern Thailand, showing that borders can heal as much as they divide.
Until October 4. Free. Warin Lab Contemporary, 10.30am-7.30pm
