Cynthia Delaney Suwito’s practice explores the subtleties of everyday life and the experience of time. Based in Singapore, this Indonesian-born artist takes inspiration from simple materials, such as instant noodles, and everyday situations, such as filling out forms. As we pause in front of her works, seemingly ordinary items, the meanings we attach to them, the stories we involve them in, all slowly unravel. Her works breathe life into these familiar objects, enabling people to see and value the beauty and significance that is overlooked in their daily lives. She hopes that her works can invite people to reflect on their own daily activities and see things with different perspectives and new approaches of thinking.
Cynthia is curious about the way things work and what lies behind each person’s behaviour. She believes that our actions are never truly our own, but informed by multi-layered systems of learnt behaviour. Cynthia is able to distill this complexity into a poetic simplicity so that it is accessible and relatable. Using different mediums, such as installation, drawing and video, her works engage the audience both experientially, and in participatory ways, allowing a rediscovery of the wonder inherent in the everyday.
Born in 1993 in Jakarta, Cynthia completed her Bachelor in Fine Arts, First Class Honours, at LASALLE College of the Arts, Singapore. Internationally, Cynthia was featured on BBC Asia and Channel NewsAsia and was in the 2017 FORBES 30 under 30 Asia in the Arts. In Indonesia, she exhibited at 2017’s Body-Out and 2019’s Media Art Globale, both in Jakarta, as well as the Bandung Contemporary Art Award Assemblage in 2019. In Singapore, Cynthia was a finalist at the Harpers Bazaar Art Prize 2015, exhibited at the 2016 Affordable Art Fair and at The Only Paradise is Paradise Lost in 2019.
