Collection: 'It Turns Out I'm Still Breathing' | Arwin Hidayat

29 July - 23 August 2025

OPENING EVENT: Friday 1 August, 6 - 8pm
ARTIST PANEL DISCUSSION: Saturday 2 August, 2:30pm

Arwin Hidayat was born in Yogyakarta, Indonesia in 1983 and has been drawing since childhood. As an alumnus of the Indonesian Institute of Art, Yogyakarta, Arwin has channelled his influences and memories of childhood stories, told to him by his late father, as inspiration.

He is known for his distinctive depictions of birds, serpents and distorted human forms. Over the past few years, Arwin has received increasing attention and praise from within the local Yogyakarta art scene and the wider international art community.

He combines primitive and contemporary motifs for his works on paper and in his paintings, and also by folk art inspired refined unique batik pieces. Although many of his works are inspired by his personal experiences and thoughts, his works of art can be seen as a subtle manner to pose questions about socio-economic and moral situation in Indonesia.

Arwin exhibits extensively in Indonesia and abroad. In 2017, Kedai Kebun Forum (KKF) hosted his exhibition Gombal, with KKF director Agung Kurniawan showing the full spectrum of Indonesia's cultural complexities through his batiks.

He continues to gain international attention, with a display at KunstRAI Art Asterdam in 2018 and a commission to produce new works, incorporating batik and sewing, for a 2019 group exhibition at the Asia Museum of Modern Art in Taichung, Taiwan. 

Arwin Hidayat's artworks have been selected several times for ArtJog, the annual and prestigious contemporary art exhibition in Yogyakarta.