JAKARTA: A Fold in Time, a group exhibition now showing at ISA Art Gallery in Central Jakarta, is the result of a cross-border collaboration between leading contemporary art spaces in the region: MONO in Manila, Richard Koh Fine Art with bases in Singapore and Bangkok and ISA Art Gallery.

Coming at a time when the focus on Southeast Asia is strongly gaining momentum, A Fold in Time opened in Manila and will travel to Singapore after Jakarta.

While issues of identity, history, memory, preservation and boundaries might mark the artists’ diverse conceptual premises, the collective realities of the past, present and future are inextricably intertwined with the diversity of artistic expression.

The exhibition features only 12 artists, and its relatively small size offers an unexpectedly intimate view of their varied techniques, materials and levels of exploration.

Painting appears to be central to the works of some artists, yet the focus is on materiality, technology and contemporary realities.

The compositions of Thai artist Aimi Kaiya, born in 1989, though semi-minimalist and modest in scale, are imbued with rich, vivid color.

She employs a mix of mediums—acrylic, acrylic ink and gold and black mica flakes—on Leondesca linen.

A gritty surface texture and rough edges define her signature style, as seen in Lake & Copper and Sky Mines in this exhibition.

Myanmar artist Wah Nu holds a Bachelor of Arts in Music from the National University of Arts and Culture in Yangon.

While she often collaborates with her husband on large-scale installations, here, however, personal emotions dominate in dreamlike clouds that seem to meander in the sky while imagining the sea beneath in Cloud and the Sea (acrylic on canvas, 48.8 x 61.2 centimeters).

Wah Nu has also made films and participated in several renowned exhibitions in Asia, as well as in Europe and the United States.

The exploration of different mediums, albeit hidden behind the finished artworks, is one of the standout features of this exhibition.

This is particularly so in the work by Issay Rodriguez titled Caliandra haematocephala, an image of a white flower made with cyanotype on a canvas measuring 186 by 129 cm.

Cyanotype is a camera-less photographic process that produces a blue print on a white background. It involves applying a light-sensitive solution to paper or fabric and exposing it to ultraviolet (UV) light, using either sunlight or a UV lamp, which turns exposed areas blue while the unexposed areas remain white.

Rodriguez creates drawings, cyanotypes and other types of art, such as virtual and augmented reality artworks, and has featured in various exhibitions including the 2017 Venice Biennale.

Exploration of mediums also finds expression in Terraphytic Narrative by French-Indonesian artist Ines Katamso, who uses soil on handwoven cotton in her large work measuring 125 by 155 cm.

As for Sinta Tantra, who was born to Balinese parents and studied in the United Kingdom, where she now lives, her works appear sculptural but are the result of a particular technique: a wooden frame is covered with linen stretched over a prepared image, and then other materials such as tempera, color and 24-karat gold leaf are applied to complete the composition.

Sinta’s Burning with a Bright, Fierce Flame harkens back to Balinese narratives while her second work, Let Us Always Have Great Dreams, is inspired by a letter written by Javanese national heroine and women’s empowerment advocate Raden Ajeng Kartini, according to a gallery assistant.

Other featured artists include Philippine-born Canadian Jill Paz, who combines analog and digital techniques while Goldie Poblador, also born in the Philippines, explores absence through glass and Manila-based Eunice Sanchez uses cyanotype, adding textiles and thread.

The works of Indonesia’s Luh’De Gita explore preservation, Japan’s Kelli Maeshiro uses abstract imagery to denote the self and Taiwan’s Liu Hsin Ying works in the more traditional mediums of oil or acrylic on canvas, making for a sweeping showcase of varying textures and tones.