Exhibition by Sanandha Prabu
Before You See the Cart by Sanandha Prabu
This exhibition presents 7 charcoal and pencil portraits of Gerobak women of Bandung, Indonesia, taken from a wider research project with 50 participants. Printed onto fabric, the works take on a quiet fragility – holding presence while suggesting impermanence.
Each portrait reflects a Gerobak woman’s individual story, translating lived experience into something intimate. Living and working out of hand-pulled carts, these women navigate regular precarity while remaining unseen.
Moving from research into portraiture, the exhibition shifts these women from anonymous to visible, inviting viewers to slow down to take a closer look and to sit with lives that are so often passed without notice.
One of these women told me, “People see the cart before they see me.” That stayed with me while I was drawing her. This series is about trying to reverse that – to see the woman first.
About the Artist
Sanandha Prabu is an artist who listens before she creates. Her work begins in conversations with the Gerobak women of Bandung, Indonesia – women who live in and move through the streets with hand-pulled carts, collecting recyclable trash in exchange for small earnings.
Sanandha is the founder of Semua Sehat, a social impact initiative that works directly with Gerobak women in Indonesia – distributing menstrual hygiene packets every month, illustrating educational resources like coloring books for Gerobak children, as well as using research to understand experiences of period poverty, harassment, mental health, and complex emotions.
Visit Before You See the Cart at the Fusion Arts Window Galleries throughout May 2026. You'll find the galleries on Friar's Entry near to the Gloucester Green's White Rabbit Pub and the Organic Deli Cafe.
Instagram: @semuasehat.indo
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sanandhaprabu1/
