Before You See The Cart

Sanandha Prabu, an Indonesian artist and social justice activist, explores the lives of Bandung's Gerobak women. After her exhibition with the BFA2 cohort at the Ruskin School of Art in March, we were delighted to invite her to our Window Galleries in May to showcase the latest chapter of her ongoing body of work, Before You See the Cart.

The series centres on the Gerobak women of Bandung, women who push handmade carts through the city streets each day, collecting waste to earn just one or two pounds to support themselves and their families. Rooted in deep research and conversation, Sanandha’s series of charcoal portraits of fabric confronts the politics of visibility: who is seen and who is denied? Sanandha challenges viewers to look past the cart itself and see the woman behind it.

This work grew out of sustained engagement with the Manusia Gerobak community and deep, careful research involving fifty respondents who shared their experiences of harassment, limited access to safe reproductive healthcare, mental health struggles, and sexual violence. Sanandha has taken these testimonies and translated them into drawings printed onto fabric, choosing a slower, more intimate material through which to hold these experiences that are rarely given space or time.

Sanandha’s commitment extends well beyond the Window Galleries. She is the founder of Semua Sehat (@semuasehat.indo), a grassroots initiative supporting women and communities through menstrual health education, the distribution of menstrual hygiene packs, and illustrated colouring books created for homeless children. Through direct engagement, Semua Sehat helps connect communities with essential resources and care that might otherwise be out of reach.

Before You See the Cart is a reminder that art can hold complexity, grief, resilience, injustice, and dignity without flattening it into something easier to look at. Learn more about Semua Sehat at www.semuasehat.com

Before You See The Cart Window Galleries

Fusion Arts Project Instagram Post