Characteristics, Forms and Techniques of Making Combined Figure Sculptures by Laksmi Shitaresmi

Abstract

Laksmi Shitaresmi is a female artist from Yogyakarta who specializes in painting, sculpture, and installation, as well as other two- and three-dimensional media. Because she freely shares stories about herself and her experiences as a Javanese woman trying to balance the roles of housewife, artist, and wife, her works have a strong appeal. The various visual components she shapes and arranges in her sculptures or reliefs, as well as the stories she tells in them, can prompt us to consider our own lives. The stories in Laksmi's works are always autobiographical; the autobiographical aspect of her works clearly features self-portrait images, although they also often take the form of animals such as pigs, dogs or elephants. She views these forms as representations of herself that are symbolic and connected to a particular round of personal experience. Her mixed-figure works, which include animals with human heads, elephants with human feet, humans with mouse heads, scorpions with human heads, and so on, demonstrate this. Lakshmi's sculptures are interesting to study and learn about because of their intricate techniques and composite figure forms with diverse attributes.