There are suitcases that carry clothes and there are suitcases that carry stories.
In OLAH OLEH, her latest solo exhibition, celebrated Indonesian artist Erica Hestu Wahyuni invites us to step inside the latter.
Opening on the golden afternoon of August 20, 2025 at 4 p.m., at the ever-visionary Sangkring Art Project in Yogyakarta, this exhibition is less about travel, and more about what we choose to bring home both literally and emotionally. The title, Olah Oleh, is a playful twist on the Indonesian term for “souvenirs,” yet here, Erica transforms trinkets into truth, and baggage into beauty.
Known for her whimsical visual language part childlike wonder, part cultural diary Erica crafts a visual narrative that is at once deeply personal and universally resonant. The exhibition’s emblem, a crimson suitcase adorned with doodles, charms, and memory-marks, becomes a vessel of time, geography, and identity. Each illustration, each brushstroke, whispers of places visited, emotions archived, and dreams still unfolding.
The opening ceremony featured words by cultural thinker Kris Budiman, and was officiated with grace by Gusti Kanjeng Ratu Condrokirono, whose presence bridged tradition with contemporary artistry a fitting homage to Yogyakarta’s enduring role as Indonesia’s beating artistic heart.
Running from August 20 to September 20, 2025, OLAH OLEH is open daily from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. a full month to immerse oneself in Erica’s imaginative cosmos. More than an exhibition, it is an invitation: to travel inward, to collect fragments of feeling, and to leave just like the artist with a suitcase full of soul.
