Culture

Set to run from 18 to 26 January 2025 alongside Singapore Art Week, S.E.A Focus returns for its seventh edition, gathering creative practitioners across Southeast Asia to navigate the multiplicity of experiences and perspectives that continue to shape the region’s art landscape.

Through MET Glodok, multidisciplinary artist Metta Setiandi channels the stories and heritage of her neighbourhood into diverse mediums, inviting visitors to engage with the community firsthand.

In the spirit of the season, for our next Manual Pick we turn to the handcrafted wrapping paper of Terbungkus. Featuring block prints, custom embroidery and playful accents, their designs turn the ritual of gift-wrapping into an act as gratifying as unwrapping the gift itself.

Since the turn of the 21st century, the all-natural skincare brand, Sensatia Botanicals, has been drawing on the enduring qualities of plants, a philosophy that underpins its growing enterprise.

For his first solo exhibition in Indonesia at Museum MACAN, Thai-born and New York-based artist Korakrit Arunanondchai presents his distinctive storytelling to explore humanity’s most universal and complex themes.

Ahead of his upcoming book, Paras, self-confessed ‘hotel enthusiast’ Radit Mahindro reflects on a century of influences that have shaped the island’s hospitality architecture and enduring ‘tropical paradise’ image.