Esty Wika Silva

Esty Wika Silva was born and raised in West Kalimantan and is now based in Yogyakarta. Her work explores vulnerability, identity, and their intersections with ecological and social issues through a research-led artistic practice. She is actively involved in community-based initiatives, particularly with the Bakudapan Food Study Group, Struggles for Sovereignty, and Sejawat Merawat organisations that focus on ecological, social, political, and cultural justice, as well as care work within activist movements. Through her artistic practice, she seeks to examine and navigate the dualities between vulnerability and privilege in her position as an individual, an artist, and a member of the communities she works alongside.

Title : I Want to Survive But Capitalism Won’t Let Me

When larger systems such as capitalism govern nearly all dynamics within our living environments, the basic rights of individuals in smaller, intimate contexts are often rendered insignificant. This leaves us vulnerable to systemic oppression and neglect. In such conditions, the issues we face become increasingly complex, dulling our sensitivity to vulnerability itself both within our own bodies and within our relationships with others and the environment, relationships that are equally shaped by hierarchy.

Amid a system that makes us feel perpetually insufficient, I aim to create space for feelings of exhaustion, anger, and bitterness to emerge with critical awareness yet without losing sensitivity. This work is an articulation of those emotions emotions I continue to reflect upon and renegotiate. The desire to persist, which often collides with the reality of spaces that are limited, damaged, or transformed by development, sharpens our vulnerabilities and narrows the possibilities of how we might live.

Drawing on the landscapes of Kalimantan that I have inhabited since childhood, I attempt to record how the wild and the marginalised including myself improvise strategies for survival. This work becomes a space to document and revisit forms of vulnerability, mapping what has been silenced in personal and everyday life, and opening conversations about tactics for living, and how we might care for and support one another.

Size : 72 x 72 cm, 60 x 40 cm, 60 x 40 cm

Medium : Hand embroidery on fabric

2025