In this chapter, I analyse the representation of the female body through the lens of the abject and the grotesque in the works of the Balinese artist IGAK Murniasih (1966-2006). Murniasih or Murni was a prolific painter before she passed away from cancer. Her extensive body of work mainly consisted of drawings and paintings. She was one of only a few Balinese women artists who were able to enter the mainstream Indonesian art world. Her strong and expressive works coupled with unusual subject matter captured the attention of many Indonesian art critics and curators.

Murniasih's subject matter revolves around the themes of sex and the body. The subject matter, according to Hardiman (2003), reflects a deeper meaning about female sexuality and desire than simply an expression of pain or personal issues. I argue in this chapter that Murniasih's representation of the abject and grotesque body, alongside some of the works of Indonesian performance artists discussed in Chapter 6, unsettles the notion of femininity and subjectivity in Indonesian visual arts.

The reading of Murniasih's works in this chapter is framed within the notion of the monstrous-feminine (Creed 1986). Barbara Creed first conceived the term to explain the representation of women as monsters in horror films. Creed uses Kristeva's notion of the abject to describe things that “[disturb] identity, system, order” and “[do] not respect borders, positions and rules” (Kristeva 1982: 4). According to Kristeva, abjection both horrifies and fascinates; it also thrives on ambiguity and transgression of taboos and boundaries.

Murniasih's works have been described as violent and absurdist, surreal as well as candid and humorous. These reactions come from the juxtaposition of violence and the female body in some of her paintings to the monstrous feminine in the forms of vagina dentata, the toothed vagina, and medusa-like objects. Yet, despite the challenging nature of her subjects, Murniasih's works appeal strongly to the mainstream art world in Indonesia. The chapter will discuss the ambiguity surrounding the reception of Murniasih's works. The discussion seeks to read how her works seem to both assert and refute the insistent resort to abjection and the grotesque.