M. Ilham Samudra

Forest Liberation Front

2026

installation; banners, books, clay

dimensions variable

Ilham Samudra’s installation, Forest Liberation Front, consists of a hand-painted banner, books, and a clay piece, arranged to resemble a sacred, consecrated area. Deliberately emphasizing handmade objects with various allusions to shrines or forests, Samudra stresses the importance of environmental conservation. The work refers to the Perhutana Project, which aims to reduce depopulation and industrialization of the rural Jatiwangi area in Indonesia. Natural landscapes, especially in capitalistic governments, are increasingly exploited; industries, promising housing and better living conditions, become facades for corporate, political greed, inevitably leading us to reconsider our relationship with nature.

Ilham Samudra (1995, Jatiwangi, Indonesia) is an artist, cultural practitioner, and designer; a member of Jatiwangi Art Factory in the village of Jatiwangi in West Java, which is Indonesia’s biggest roof-tile manufacturing center. Established in 2005, Jatiwangi Art Factory (JaF) is a community that embraces contemporary arts and cultural practices as part of the local life discourse in a rural area. He exhibited in numerous international exhibitions. One of his biggest works was a three-piece banner on the front entrance at Fridericianum at Documenta 15 in Kassel. Currently, he takes part in the 36th Sao Paulo Biennale.