The Lichen Axis of Jogja
Open Studio | Residency in Jogja, 15 August – 15 September 2026
Supported by The Institutum, hosted by Alia Swastika at Lohjinawi Residency.
The Lichen Axis of Jogja explores lichens along Yogyakarta’s Sumbu Filosofi / Imaginary Line as phenomena emerging from the convergence of natural and human environments. I see them as a form of counter-cosmology, offering another way of reading the city.
From the moment I arrived, I saw lichens almost everywhere, along the streets from the airport to Lohjinawi and throughout my journey. Their presence kept drawing my attention along the streets, and they became the first thing that introduced me to the city. (At that point, I had no idea I would make a work about lichens.)
As I spent time in the city and learned more about it, I became interested in the myths and legends that narrate nature, connecting it to human power and to a worldview embedded in the city. This brought me back to lichens because, in another way, they are nature narrating the city back to me. Their physical presence also seems to coat the city. The diversity and density of lichens can reflect the characteristics of the environment in each area, as they are highly sensitive to factors such as elevation, terrain, humidity, temperature, surfaces, pollution, and human activity. In this sense, lichens become a kind of “air profile,” reflecting the atmospheric conditions of each area.
Jogja’s urban structure and cosmology are connected through the Sumbu Filosofi and Imaginary Line, a north–south axis rooted in the landscape and beliefs of Mount Merapi to the north and the Southern Sea to the south, with humans and the palace at its center. I use these two axes, as part of the city’s existing structure of meaning, as a framework for allowing lichens to narrate the city back. During the residency, I wandered and randomly observed trees along the Imaginary Line, from Ullen Museum at the foot of Mount Merapi to the southern coast at Pantai Parangkusumo. Along the way, I stopped at different trees, as well as important sites within the city’s cosmology associated with the Sumbu Filosofi, including Tugu, the Keraton, and Panggung Krapyak, positioning myself as a witness to what the lichens revealed along this structure of meaning, just as they introduced me to the city on my first day, speaking in their own language. These encounters will be retold through a Wayang Beber, which I am continuing to complete along the whole route.
Another reason I became interested in lichens here was the word “harmony.” I saw the idea of harmony between humans and nature very often in museums around the city. And I began to think that lichens are another form of nature that harmonizes deeply with urban life here. They are everywhere, so common and familiar that they gradually blend into the background.
Special thanks to Arami Kasih and Ratna Diah Utari.
