Wimo Ambala Bayang

Biography

Wimo Ambala Bayang was born in Magelang in 1976. He studied in the Photography Department at the Indonesian Institute of the Arts in Yogyakarta. Wimo Ambala Bayang is a multi disciplinary artist who works with photography, video, object, text, etc. His works reflect unique perspectives on culture that are not made under a pretense to criticize, but to make us re- think the habits that seem ‘'to have always been there’'. History and facts, minor and major, are important aspects that must always be considered in his creative process. Wimo is always interested in finding a unique and hidden perspective from our everyday life, to encourage the audience to rethink and to question all the small things that happen in our life. Using his camera, he plays with visual reality, combining the real visual view and imagined fantasy. Wimo also tends to open up layers of different culture, bringing us to reach a common understanding of our heterogeneous contemporary society. In 2002, Wimo founded Video Battle and Ruang MES 56 with friends from ISI with the same interest in visual art. Ruang MES 56 is a non-profit institution that is active in the field of photography, emphasized in the exploratory approach of contemporary photography, both in theory and practice, conceptually and contextually. Until now it has developed the discourse of the contemporary photography sphere in Indonesia through its exhibitions and projects. In the past 10 years, Wimo participated in international artists residencies and exchanges, such as in China, Australia, Netherlands, Denmark, and Romania. Recently he also co curated Jimei X Arles International Photo Festival in Xiamen and Collaboration of Ruang Mes X Foam at Foam Fotomuseum in Amsterdam. There he explored new ideas, approaches and different contexts related to the development of contemporary photography, which influenced his decision to juxtapose photography with other disciplines in art. In 2021, The Enigma of HeDonism, documentary film about Heri Dono, the most prominent Indonesian artist which he directed received an award from the Documentary Film Festival as the Best Indonesian Long Documentary Film 2021.