Wound & Interloper: Alisa Chunchue and Mar Kristoff at Ara Contemporary

Kicking off Art Jakarta 2025, Ara Contemporary presents two inaugural solo exhibitions featuring works by Thai artist Alisa Chunchue and Indonesian artist Mar Kristoff. The exhibitions are held across two gallery spaces: Wound by Alisa Chunchue in the Main Gallery, with an exhibition text by Pojai Akratanakul, and Interloper by Mar Kristoff in the Focus Gallery, with an exhibition text by Raina Alonge. The exhibitions run from September 27 to November 2, 2025.

Wound: Alisa Chunchue’s Meditative Journey

In Wound, Alisa Chunchue presents a series of meditative drawings that reflect the process of emotional and physical healing. Begun in 2020 as a response to grief, her works explore surgical stitching techniques rendered in pencil, forming endless circular patterns that fill the space. This series reflects Chunchue’s fascination with the body’s healing process, where her meticulous approach to closing wounds becomes a calming yet challenging meditation.

Chunchue also showcases glass sculptures from her series Invisible Suture (2022–24) and Stitching (2024). These works, suspended in air, blend strength and vulnerability, mirroring the precision required in handling glass, much like the human body. Delicate, nearly invisible lines invite viewers to draw closer, creating an intimate experience that evokes tranquility. Wound is a testament to Chunchue’s resilience, with each line reflecting a breath and a presence in difficult moments. The series has earned prestigious recognitions, including the ARTJOG Young Artist Awards (2024), The Vogue Hong Kong Women’s Art Prize (2023), and the Prince Claus Seed Awards (2022).

Interloper: Mar Kristoff’s Reflections on Memory

Mar Kristoff’s Interloper positions the artist as a wanderer navigating ambiguous spaces, simultaneously a participant and an outsider. Using family photographs and found objects, Kristoff rejects the notion of archives as neutral containers. Through brushstrokes that blur, reframe, and displace, he challenges inherited meanings, opening questions about ownership and the narrative of an image.

The exhibition explores the paradox of memory: the desire to preserve it amidst inevitable distortions. Each work is an attempt to hold time still, while acknowledging that memories evolve, absorbing new contexts and betraying their origins. Kristoff, the 2024 UOB Painting of the Year gold winner in the emerging artist category, presents memory as a dynamic, contradictory, and ever-unfinished process.

About the Artists
Alisa Chunchue is a Thai artist who explores the physical and mental human condition through cross-media works, including sculpture, installation, drawing, performance, and videography. Inspired by autopsy wounds from the Condon Anatomical Museum in Bangkok, her works have been exhibited at ARTJOG: Ramalan (Yogyakarta, 2024), The Sovereign Asian Art Prize Finalists Exhibition (Hong Kong, 2023), and Illuminated Curiosities (Vietnam, 2022).

Mar Kristoff, a multidisciplinary artist based in Bali, is known for his painterly interpretations of photographic images that explore identity, nostalgia, and time. He has participated in exhibitions such as Tandur (Bali, 2024), TERRA (France, 2024), and Coalesce – OPC Collectors Show (Jakarta, 2023).