Migration is a complex process; it does not merely refer to displace oneself physically from one place to enter another. It is a psychological experience in which one encounters social tension, culture shock, and anxiety within the space. When talking about place shifting, we do not always imagine a long journey by flight through many miles just like migrants do. Instead, we are also agitated by the experience of moving to the adjacent neighborhood, even if it is less than 10 kilometers away. Restu Ratnaningtyas in Domain/Terrain has delved through her personal experiences of moving in and out of old and new places. They are simple episodic memories which were initially perceived psychologically as social phenomena; yet when reflected from a certain distance, this allowed her to respond to these memories from a different perspective.

Restu recorded her childhood experiences particularly when she was ‘forced’ to relocate due to land ownership conflicts. Then, she tracked the course of events which occurred when she was older and had to move several times due to different personal circumstances. From her memories of home, land, physical boundaries, and other relevant aspects, she stepped into the subject of domain. Terrain serves as an affirmation of boundaries constraining the idea of home, and at the same time an emphasis on the notion that home also entails the way people connect with their natural surroundings. In Domain/Terrain, the displacement narrative serves as a place where Restu can immediately encounter social conventions that affect private spaces. Ideas regarding the home, both physically and mentally, are presented in fragmented images of incomplete imaginations transformed into puzzles scattered throughout the exhibition room.

Her works this time combine a wide range of media, hard and soft, abstract and narrative, small and big, as a measure taken to set herself free from the boundaries of visual and material languages. This exhibition is a new playground for Restu as an artist. Several works seem to be unfinished; or from another perspective, it might be designed to spare some possibilities to further its transformative journey. As usual, the basic approach of Restu’s works is drawing; a medium through which she actively articulates her memories and fantasies. In relation to domain, her drawing medium enters a new playground as well, initiating a new journey. Thus, instead of arriving at the end, she is embarking on a new exploration.