A major new milestone in Indonesia’s cultural landscape begins with the launch of the inaugural FOTO Bali Festival at Nuanu Creative City. Featuring 34 artists from 10 countries and a total of 32 photography projects (241 prints, 3 multimedia, and 5 photobooks), the festival unfolds over 23 days of exhibitions, workshops, talks, and tours, setting a new precedent for contemporary photography in the region.
“We are extremely art-focused, and the launch of FOTO Bali Festival is particularly interesting to us, as this medium is a striking example of the physical world intersecting with art,” said Lev Kroll, CEO of Nuanu Creative City. “It’s an honor to have such a variety of artists and artworks exploring beauty and curiosities of life. Supporting artists and creating a place of artistic discussion and opening that discussion to our guests and partners is a way to create a meaningful creative space that we are eager to build.”
The theme LIFE was chosen for its openness, for the range of experiences it can hold without needing to be defined. It offered space for artists to reflect on what it means to live, lose, remember and begin again. The works in the festival span grief, intimacy, resistance and renewal each shaped by the personal and cultural contexts they emerge from. As a starting point for the first edition of FOTO Bali Festival, LIFE felt both grounded and expansive.
“The curatorial process led us to work that holds space for what’s often overlooked,” said Ng Swan Ti and Gatari Surya Kusuma, Curators for FOTO Bali Festival 2025. “We were drawn to artists who stay with uncertainty. The process challenged and asked us to slow down and stay open. What made it possible was Nuanu’s trust, there was no pressure to explain, just freedom to build. That shaped the foundation of this festival.”
The exhibitions take place across three outdoor and indoor venues: Labyrinth Art Gallery, Labyrinth Garden, and Popper’s Triangle, each one designed to offer a distinct entry point into visual storytelling.
FOTO Bali Festival 2025 includes artists from Southeast Asia and beyond, such as:
Ali Monis Naqvi, Arum Dayu, Atal Pamo, Azkaluna, Carolina Krieger, Catharine Neilson, Divya Cowasji, Ennuh Tiu, Gabriella Morton, Gorkey Patwal & Anubha Verma, I Wayan Ade Saputra, Karolina Gembara, Kim Hak, Kresnanta, Lê Nguyên Phương, Mediana Tahir, Rangga Yudhistira & Wulang Sunu, Reza Kutjh, Rivo Abdulhaq, Rony Zakaria, Rugun Sirait, Ryan Andrew, Shindy Lestari, Shwe Wutt Hmon, Sophal Neak, Swastik Pal, Tomasz Lazar, Vickram Sombu, Yoese Mariam, Yoppy Pieter, Yusi Yuansa, and Zishaan A Latif.
“This festival is a reminder of what’s possible when people who care about art come together and truly collaborate,” said Kelsang Dolma, Festival Director of FOTO Bali Festival. “I’m proud of what the team has built—quickly, thoughtfully, and with so much heart. For an inaugural edition, the response has been overwhelming, and it’s only motivated us further. Photography doesn’t always get the space it deserves in this region. This is our way of beginning to shift that.”
In addition to the exhibitions, the festival includes more than 25 public sessions featuring over 20 speakers and facilitators. The programming ranges from darkroom experiments and visual storytelling labs to panel discussions and guided tours, led by some of the most respected voices in contemporary photography. Among them are Beawiharta, a veteran photojournalist known for his unfiltered human narratives; Edy Purnomo, whose work bridges memory and image through education and practice; and the Film Photography Club, a collective dedicated to reviving analog techniques through hands-on darkroom work. Also joining the lineup are Manila-based documentary photographer and lecturer Veejay Villafranca, and India’s Anshika Varma, a curator, publisher, and artist exploring visual culture across disciplines.
The launch of FOTO Bali Festival coincides with Nuanu Nights, a monthly evening of music, culture and movement across the creative city. Highlights include a special performance at Daniel Popper’s Earth Sentinels sculpture, traditional Balinese dance at the amphitheatre, and live music flowing through the site into the night.
Nuanu Creative City, Bali
We often speak of life as if it begins and ends with ourselves, confined to what can be seen, measured, or touched. But life resists such simplicity. It moves quietly—through memory, ritual, grief, and the unnoticed labour of survival. Sometimes it is carried not by the living, but by what has been lost.
The inaugural edition of FOTO Bali Festival, held in Nuanu Creative City, invites lens-based practitioners—photographers, artists, and storytellers—to respond to the theme LIFE in ways both seen and felt. Works span still images, photo books, multimedia installations, and moving image projects that reflect on, challenge, or reframe what it means to live.
The festival offers a space for images that listen—holding tension, embracing ambiguity, and drawing attention to what quietly persists. Through light, sequence, and composition, photography can give shape to what resists language, capturing presence and memory while bearing witness to what still matters. This is an invitation to see photography not only as a record, but as an act of attention to the quiet, unresolved, and invisible stories that live alongside us.
Featured Projects
The Land Forgets Nothing – Ryan Andrew – Exploring the Bissu, a sacred fifth-gender community of the Bugis people in South Sulawesi, once revered as spiritual leaders and guardians of nature. Today, they face marginalization and environmental loss. This project becomes an act of remembrance and quiet resistance.
Paradox – Gabriella Morton – Shot across Indonesia, Thailand, and Vietnam, this series captures surreal yet real outdoor environments, reflecting the tension between inherited values and emerging truths, and inviting viewers to sit within ambiguity.
Giao Điểm – Le Nguyen Phuong – Through photographic collaborations with the artist’s father, a former Vietnamese soldier, and the artist’s partner, this work examines masculinity, intimacy, and withheld encounters shaped by war’s legacy.
Landep – Yoese Mariam – A journey into Javanese heritage through the keris, a traditional dagger tied to family history and conflict. The work traverses Java and Bali, meditating on memory, reconciliation, and the supernatural.
Life in Motion – Rivo Abdulhaq – Panning photographs of underage schoolchildren riding motorcycles in rural East Java, revealing both the movement of youth and the weight of necessity.
HHH (Hantu Hantu Hunian) – Rangga Yudhistira X Wulang Sunu – Inspired by childhood ghost stories, this photographic-illustrative work reimagines abandoned spaces as realms alive with spectral presences.
The Waves Upon a Trance – Kresnanta – Documenting Sanghyang Dedari, a sacred trance dance in Karangasem, Bali, performed by prepubescent girls as vessels for benevolent spirits, intertwining ritual, community, and the natural world.
Mpu Uteun : The Forest Guardian – Yoppy Pieter – Portraits of a women-led forest ranger group in Gayo, Aceh, protecting the Damaran Baru protected forest while navigating gender barriers and eco-political challenges.
Co-Living – Azkaluna – Examining multi-generational households as strategies for survival amid rising housing costs, revealing both intimate bonds and broader socio-economic realities.
Cycle – I Wayan Ade Saputra – Offering a candid view into the hidden challenges of life in Bali, where frequent religious obligations shape work, finances, and modern aspirations.
Together, these works reflect multiplicity—stories of identity, heritage, environment, and adaptation. They hold space for what persists in the margins and affirm photography’s power to illuminate the unseen, the unresolved, and the quietly enduring.
FOTO Bali Festival : LIFE
Until August 17, 2025
www.fotobalifestival.com
Nuanu Creative City
www.nuanu.com
