One is a Balinese photographer who has spent twelve years working alongside people living with mental health conditions. The other is a documentarian recording how climate change is already reshaping Indonesian communities. Rudi Waisnawa and Irene Barlian have been named the inaugural recipients of the FOTO Bali Award, an annual award presented by Nuanu Social Fund (NSF) and initiated by FOTO Bali Festival, the international photography festival launched by Nuanu Creative City. Chosen from nearly 100 applications, each receives IDR 22 million to support their practice.
"This year's festival asked what remains after an image is made. For photographers like Rudi and Irene, what remains is years of work that is rarely paid for and too easily overlooked. We designed the award to recognise that labour on its own terms, without asking artists to turn themselves into project managers to earn it," said Kelsang Dolma, Founding Director of the FOTO Bali Award and FOTO Bali Festival.
Unlike project-based funding, the FOTO Bali Award by Nuanu Social Fund gives recipients financial support to continue their practice, with no requirement to produce a new project.
"Nuanu Social Fund was built around humanity and nature, and these two works sit right at that intersection: one on how we care for the most vulnerable people in our communities, the other on what is happening to the land and sea we all depend on. Photographers who stay with these issues for years are doing social work. Backing them is central to why the fund exists, and it will remain so," said Ida Ayu Astari Prada, Head of Nuanu Social Fund.
The Inaugural FOTO Bali Award by Nuanu Social Fund Recipients
Rudi Waisnawa — Hope and Freedom
Category: A Work Rooted in and Dedicated to Bali
Since 2014, Rudi Waisnawa (I Kadek Rodi Artawan) has photographed people living with mental health conditions in Bali. He uses the camera as a tool for advocacy against a stigma that keeps many of them out of sight. The project has since become a photobook, made with Nicky Hogan.
"I hope this recognition brings greater visibility and understanding to people living with mental health conditions, whose stories deserve to be heard with dignity," said Rudi Waisnawa.
Irene Barlian — Land of the Sea
Category: Works that Highlight Indonesian Realities Outside Bali
Irene Barlian began Land of the Sea in 2020. Supported by the National Geographic Society, the ongoing documentary project captures the lives of communities across Indonesia experiencing the direct impacts of the climate crisis, going beyond the numbers and projections that often dominate discussions around climate change. The work was shortlisted for the 2022 Leica Oskar Barnack Award and has been exhibited at Objectifs, Singapore.
“Land of the Sea is a story about the impact of climate change in Indonesia, told through the perspective of the communities that reside along the region. It feels surreal, yet deeply honoring, to have received this award. Winning this award drives me to keep going, to keep telling the stories I care about most,” said Irene Barlian.
The Jury
The award has two categories of equal weight. Recipients were selected by Ng Swan Ti, Managing Director of PannaFoto Institute; Dr. Wiyu Wahono, Indonesian contemporary art collector; and I Made Bayu Pramana, photographer and academic at the Indonesian Institute of the Arts (ISI) Bali. The judging criteria were artistic strength, visual approach, conceptual depth and narrative coherence.
“Awards such as FOTO Bali Award recognise practices built through long-term commitment. Direct support from a festival creates more opportunities for photographers to grow,” said Ng Swan Ti.
“Art has the ability to reflect the realities of its time. Both works demonstrate how photography can go beyond visual documentation to engage with the social and environmental issues shaping our world today, giving these experiences a place in our collective understanding,” said Dr. Wiyu Wahono.
“Photography plays an important role in how societies remember, understand, and reflect on their experiences. Practices like these demonstrate the enduring relevance of photography in documenting and interpreting the realities of life in Indonesia today,” said I Made Bayu Pramana.
About FOTO Bali Festival
FOTO Bali Festival was founded in 2025 and has quickly become a meeting point for Indonesian and international photography. Its second edition in 2026, AFTERIMAGE, drew nearly 700 submissions from more than 80 countries, showed 38 practitioners from 24 countries, and welcomed almost 25,000 visitors.
ENDS
Art & Bali's second edition, held from 11 to 13 September at Nuanu Creative City, welcomed 10,000 visitors and recorded nearly 300 works sold across 23 exhibitors. Collectors came from Jakarta, Singapore, Malaysia, Australia, Korea and India, and more than 300 artists from Indonesia, Southeast Asia and further afield were shown at the fair.
"Indonesia has extraordinary artists and makers, but too few places where the world comes to see them. That's the gap we want Nuanu to fill, and Art & Bali is how we do it," said Lev Kroll, CEO of Nuanu Creative City.
The results come a year after the fair's launch in 2025, and show growing demand for contemporary art in Bali from both local and international buyers.
"Last year people were asking whether Bali could hold an international art fair. This year the question was different. Collectors came back, galleries sold, and people were already asking me about 2027 before we'd closed," said Kelsang Dolma, Founding Director, Art & Bali.
"We got involved with Art & Bali because we want Nuanu to be a place where people actually live with art around them. Buildings give a place its shape, but it's things like Art & Bali that give people a reason to care about it," said Anastasia Sinberg, Director, Nuanu Real Estate, Lead Partner of Art & Bali
Art & Bali 2026 in numbers
10,000 visitors · Nearly 300 works sold · 23 exhibitors · 300+ artists showcased works · 26 artists, designers and studios in the flagship exhibition What The Body Remembers at Labyrinth Art Gallery, 21 global speakers discussing the future of Fashion and Art through Nuannu Future Talks: Fashion & Art.
Government support for Bali's creative economy
On the opening day, Irene Umar, Vice Minister of Creative Economy of the Republic of Indonesia, joined Lev Kroll, CEO of Nuanu Creative City, and Budiman Ong, Founder and Creative Director of ONG CEN KUANG and Co-Founder of Jia CURATED, for the panel "Where Are the Next Creative Capitals?", moderated by Kelsang Dolma.
"Indonesia's creative economy grows when artists, designers and craftspeople have places where they can meet buyers and be seen by the world. Art & Bali shows that Bali has the talent, the audience, and the platform to bring meaningful conversations around contemporary art and culture to a wider stage," said Irene Umar, Vice Minister of Creative Economy of the Republic of Indonesia.
The fair also had the support of the Tabanan Regency Government, where Nuanu Creative City is located.
"We are proud that an international art fair of this scale is taking place in Tabanan. Events like Art & Bali bring visitors to our regency, create opportunities for local artists and businesses, and show that Tabanan has a place in Bali's cultural future, not only its past," said I Made Dirga, S.Sos., Vice Regent of Tabanan.
The opening panel launched Nuanu Future Talks: Fashion & Art, a new talks programme held under the fair's theme, Bridging Dichotomies. Across the programme, 21 speakers from government, art, fashion, design and business discussed cultural ownership, new materials, digital art, emerging creative cities and the gaps in Indonesia's contemporary art scene.
Collectors return, and new ones arrive
Tatiana Azarkh, a Bali-based collector, bought her first works at Art & Bali in 2025. This year she came back and bought nine.
"I've always been passionate about art, but I'm still new to collecting. Last year I bought my first two paintings at Art & Bali, and this year I came back and bought nine works from Tonyraka, G13 and Agung Rai Fine Art Gallery. Each one came with a story I got to hear first-hand," Tatiana said.
G13 Gallery from Kuala Lumpur, the only Malaysian gallery at the fair, found buyers who were seeing its artists for the first time.
“Art & Bali offered G13 Gallery a refreshing and highly engaging platform, with a strong turnout and a distinctive mix of collectors, art enthusiasts, international visitors and the wider creative community. As a gallery committed to presenting Malaysian and regional artists, we found the fair especially relevant in creating new conversations and connections across Southeast Asia. The fair was thoughtfully organised and professionally executed, and we see Art & Bali as a promising platform with strong potential to grow as an important meeting point for regional contemporary art.” said Kenny Teng, Founder, G13 Gallery.
As a Bali-based gallery, Lanö Contemporary Art Gallery brought a locally rooted voice to Art & Bali, connecting the island’s evolving contemporary art scene with a wider international audience.
“Lanö was founded from a desire to create a space where contemporary art can emerge through dialogue with tradition, the present, and the changing cultural landscape of Indonesia. For us, Bali is not simply a geographical setting, but a living context in which histories, traditions, and contemporary practices continuously intersect. Presenting Lanö at Art & Bali was an opportunity to bring these conversations into a broader dialogue, connecting artists and ideas from Bali and Indonesia with a wider international art ecosystem.” said Kemalezedine, Founder of Lanö Contemporary Art Gallery.
Sangkring Art Space, an established contemporary art space based in Yogyakarta, used Art & Bali 2026 as an opportunity to connect with new audiences and collectors in Bali. The participation also marked an early step ahead of its planned Bali opening at the end of December.
"Participating in Art & Bali was a valuable opportunity for us to get to know the Bali market more closely, meet new collectors, and understand the interests of audiences here. As we prepare to open our space in Bali at the end of December, being part of the fair allowed us to build connections and gain insights that will be meaningful for our next chapter," said Jenny Vi Mee Yei, Programme Manager, Sangkring Art Space.
Callisto × ArtLab brought together Callisto’s artist-support platform with Italy-based ArtLab’s posthumanist practice. Their booth combined installation, sculpture, editions and technology, reflecting how contemporary practice is moving beyond conventional fair formats.
“Art & Bali gave a complex practice like ours room to exist as a whole - across installation, sculpture, editions, and technology, without forcing it into a conventional fair format. Artists were treated as partners, with the flexibility to take risks and engage meaningfully with audiences. It points to a more thoughtful model for how art fairs can respond to the way artists work today.” Kirill Pobedin, Founder of Callisto × ArtLab
Two curated exhibitions stay open after the Fair
The fair has closed, but its flagship exhibition, What The Body Remembers, continues at Labyrinth Art Gallery, Nuanu Creative City, until 29 November 2026. Curated by Bandana Tewari with Assistant Curator Brina Paska, it brings together 26 artists, designers and studios from Indonesia and India working in contemporary art, fashion, textiles and craft.
“What stayed with me after the launch of Art&Bali was not simply the exhibition itself, but the extraordinary diversity of people it brought into the room. To see Bali’s creative community — its beauty, curiosity, plurality and generosity — gathered around a shared space of ideas was a powerful reminder that culture lives through exchange.” Bandana Tewari, Lead Curator, What The Body Remembers
Do Not Clean This Room, a satellite exhibition by Block42 in Nuanu curated by Gatari Surya Kusuma, gave 18 artists their own temporary studios built from shipping containers. Visitors saw finished works alongside the research, experiments and daily routines behind them, and could talk with the artists directly.
"The satellite exhibition Do Not Clean This Room was a chance to spotlight voices that deserve wider attention, and Art & Bali gave them a platform to reach an international audience.” - Gatari Surya Kusuma, Curator, Do Not Clean This Room
Art & Bali 2027
Art & Bali will return to Nuanu Creative City for its third edition in September 2027.
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Photo Credit: Nuanu Creative City
What if learning about our planet and the universe could be something you see, feel, and experience?
At Labyrinth Dome, science, storytelling, and technology come together through immersive 360° experiences that transform complex ideas into captivating visual journeys.
Located within Nuanu Creative City, the Dome offers students, families, and curious minds an opportunity to discover the world from an entirely new perspective.
The programme features immersive films designed for different ages and interests. Younger explorers can follow Woody the dragon and Lena in Little Draggy Adventure, a playful journey across Earth and through the Solar System. Those fascinated by space can venture further with Solar System, discovering distant worlds and reflecting on humanity’s place within the vast universe.
Closer to home, Planetarium takes audiences on a 20-minute journey through some of Earth’s most extreme environments. Through powerful visuals, visitors can explore the connections between our oceans, land, and atmosphere, revealing our planet as one extraordinary and interconnected living system.
These immersive experiences offer a different approach to education one that encourages students to observe, wonder, ask questions, and engage with scientific concepts beyond textbooks and traditional classrooms. A visit to the Dome can also become part of a wider learning journey across Nuanu, connecting science with nature, creativity, culture, and real-world exploration.
And this October, there is even more to discover. Labyrinth Dome will offer selected movie experiences free of charge, creating an opportunity for more visitors to step inside the Dome and experience immersive learning for themselves.
Whether exploring distant planets or seeing Earth from a new perspective, Labyrinth Dome reminds us that learning can happen anywhere and sometimes, the best way to understand something is to step inside the experience.