Image: University of Victoria Legacy Art Galleries
‘WARA-WARA: An Exhibition of Street Art and Graffiti from Yogyakarta, Indonesia’ will bring together work by 21 artists and four collectives at Legacy Art Gallery Downtown in Victoria from September 16 to December 5, 2026. The exhibition draws on Yogyakarta’s street-art, graffiti, mural and comic communities, presenting their practices as collective responses to social, political and environmental uncertainty.
The exhibition will include paintings, drawings, prints and new site-responsive work, alongside photographs and video documentation connected to the project’s origins in Yogyakarta. Its title comes from the Javanese term ‘wara-wara’, meaning an announcement, warning or public call, framing the presentation around art’s capacity to communicate publicly and respond to conditions of instability.
Participating artists include Adit Doodleman, Anagard, Bayu Widodo, BirdPeace, Digie Sigit, Farhan Siki, GETLUPS, Homepippa, Ismu Ismoyo, LOKA, Medialegal, Minas, Muck, Neusone, Patub Porx, Reas, Rolly LoveHateLove, Rune, Samuel Indratma, Wimbo Praharso and Zent Prozent. The four participating collectives are ABDW Art Project, Graphic Victims, Nyalakan! and Wayang Polah.
The project was developed through a collaboration between Survive! Garage in Yogyakarta, Richard Fox of the University of Victoria’s Pacific and Asian Studies department, the University of Victoria Art Collections, and the participating artists and collectives. The collaboration places work rooted in public-facing and community-based visual cultures within a university art-gallery setting while retaining the project’s connection to its Yogyakarta context.
A related online presentation will document the project’s history and development. The exhibition has received support from the University of Victoria Art Collections, the Canadian Southeast Asian Studies Initiative, the Henry Luce Foundation, and partners, collaborators and supporters in Canada and Indonesia.
The exhibition will open amid the University of Victoria’s fall gallery programme. A public opening reception is scheduled for September 15 from 5 to 8 p.m. at Legacy Art Gallery Downtown, with exhibition organizers Bayu Widodo, Richard Fox and Pat Porx and music from DJ Lotek. Legacy Art Gallery Downtown is listed as the exhibition venue, with the presentation running through December 5, 2026.
