About Me
Hey! My name is Raras Umaratih, I’m an interdisciplinary artist, filmmaker, and community organizer. Living between Berlin, Germany since 2018, and South Tangerang where I grew up, in the territory our colonizers named ‘Indonesia’.
My passion is utilizing my knowledge of artistic & textual tools to tell stories that are often overlooked. With a background in video editing, graphic design, interdisciplinary arts, and community organizing, I am drawn to imaginative means of negotiating a life as honest as possible.
I speak fluent English and Bahasa Indonesia, and university-level German. My work experience includes social-artistic empowerment projects, intiating student seminars in university, grassroots collective labour, and editorial assistant work in news agencies.
*
Hei! Namaku Raras Umaratih, aku seorang seniman lintas disipliner, pembuat filem, dan pengelola komunitas. Hidup di antara Berlin, Jerman sejak 2018, dan Tangerang Selatan, tempatku tumbuh, di wilayah yang dinamai ‘Indonesia’ oleh penjajah kami.
Minatku adalah memanfaatkan pengetahuan tentang berbagai alat artistik dan tekstual untuk menceritakan kisah-kisah yang sering terabaikan. Dengan latar belakang di bidang penyuntingan video, desain grafis, seni interdisipliner, dan pengorganisasian komunitas, aku tertarik pada cara-cara imajinatif untuk menjalani hidup sejujur mungkin.
Aku fasih dalam Bahasa Indonesia dan Inggris, dan Bahasa Jerman tingkat universitas. Pengalaman kerjaku mencakup proyek-proyek pemberdayaan sosial-seni, menginisiasi seminar di universitas, kerja kolektif berbasis masyarakat, serta bekerja sebagai asisten redaksi di kantor-kantor berita.
* Artist Statement
I believe in shifting away from a competitive and success-oriented art-as-commodity industry, and into practices that seek to relate, to keep the conversation going, and that have the courage to challenge our normalization of the globalized death industry. That’s why I consider collective organizing and disintegration (or compost) as an integral part of my artistic practice. If we may call it a social sculpture, then living beings are the most fragile of mediums. Besides that, I like to make things that are small, or distributable, or that change over time, that are made to be lost or to deform, as well as site-specific performances.
Artist CV
Feel free to reach out for my Work CV.
Education
Diplom (equivalent to Master’s) in Berlin-Weissensee Art Academy, 2018-2025
Art-related work experiences
Student assistant and lecturer for *foundationClass, 2022 - 2025
Initiator of the ‘Decolonial Archive Lab’ seminar at Berlin-Weissensee Art Academy, 2023-2024
Student assistant for Open Art Academy, 2022
Casting assistant for Vollmar Casting, 2020 - 2021
Animation assistant for bi’bak animation workshop, 2021
Production assistant & documentation for Media Arts Week, Palu, Indonesia, 2018
Hospitality team & assistant for ARKIPEL Jakarta International Documentary & Experimental Film Festival, 2017 - 2018
+ freelancing for different projects
Residencies
2024
‘Mirror of Creation’ remote residency for young LGBTQIA+ and women* artists, Berlin, Germany
Publications
Upcoming, 2026
Essay and collage series in ‘The Mesh Issue – Issue 7’ published by awhām magazine
2026
Short story in anthology zine ‘Unions of Spirits: and their tales of shadows, imaginations, and sorceries’
2025
Essay in ‘Closing Act of Re-Imagining Another Door’ published by Berlin-Weißensee Art Academy and *foundationClass
2023
Essay in ‘Sounding the Archive’ Zine published by Spinnboden e.V.
‘Garuk Garuk’ Zine by Decolonial Archive Lab, as editor, designer, producer
Awards + Scholarships
2025
Forum Lenteng Award at ARKIPEL Jakarta International Documentary & Experimental Film Festival
DAAD Graduation Mini-Scholarship
2023
Honorary Mention at International Competition, Oberhausen Film Festival 2023, for the film “Aku Di Sini, Kau Di Sana (A Tale of a Crocodile’s Twin)” by director Taufiqqurahman Kifu, as illustrator
Workshops + Lectures
2025
‘Peri Tozu’ event, jam session & workshop for neighbourhood and children, Kotti-Shop Superfuture, Berlin, Germany
‘Garuk Garuk Autonomos Seminar’ Kunsthochschule für Medien Cologne, Germany
2024
‘Memory Quilt’ improv-quilt workshop with Hari Sutji (Farah Quilt), Berlin, Germany
‘Gather Symposium’, lecture performance, Universität der Künste Berlin, Germany’Berlin Art Spring’, Bornholmer II Kleingartenanlage, Berlin
‘Berlin Art Spring’ poster workshop, Bornholmer II Kleingartenanlage, Berlin, Germany
‘Fantastic Feminist Futures’ performance + workshop, Strandbad Tegeler See, Berlin, 04.08.
2023
‘Are You Listening?’ workshop with Sujatro Ghosh, Kunsthochschule Berlin-Weißensee, Berlin, Germany
‘AkuMassa’ lecture with speaker Otty Widasari, Kunsthochschule Berlin-Weißensee, Berlin, Germany
‘Mit Dir Festival’ poster workshop, Brandenburg, Germany
2021
‘Lambe Lambe’ street occupation poster workshop with Anne Nascimento, Panke river, Berlin, Germany
2019
‘Kunstpiknik’ exhibition in the park, Berlin, Germany, as organizer
Group + Solo Shows
2025
‘Gute Gesellschaft’ graduation exhibition with the Painting & Sculpture department of Weissensee Art Academy, Wilhem Studios, Berlin, Germany
‘Years of Living Dangerously’ group exhibition with Milisifilem Collective in Taman Mini Indonesia Indah, Jakarta, Indonesia
2024
‘Decolonoize Mini Fest’ art market, ACUD Macht Neu, Berlin, Germany
‘Riptide’ Mirror of Creation Residency group exhibition, Werkhalle Wiesenburg, Berlin, Germany
‘Here, There’ group exhibition, Kunstraum Digital Potsdamer Straße, Berlin, Germany
‘Organic Cotton Jeans by Primark’ group exhibition, Gemeinschaftshaus Gropiusstadt, Berlin, Germany
2023
‘Mingled Living Forces’ group exhibition, Humboldt Forum, Berlin, Germany
‘For White Helmets’ fundraising group exhibition, Tirrée Café, Berlin, Germany
2022
‘Odyssee Festival’ group exhibition, SEZ Berlin, Germany
‘Stimmen Aus Hamm’, group video exhibition, Hamm, Germany
‘Digital Pleasure Center’ group show with dgtl fmsmn, HAU Berlin, Hellerau Dresden (Hybrid Biennale), Germany
‘Gib Mir Deinen Senf’, Ur-Art Galerie, in framework of 48 Hour Neukölln Street Festival, Berlin, Germany
‘Wasser Zwischen Deinen Fingern’, group exhibition, Strandbad Tegeler See, Berlin, Germany
‘Opening Hours’ group exhibition, Treptow Ateliers e.V., Berlin, Germany
‘Begegnung (Europäische Monat der Fotografie)’ Kunsthalle am Hamburger Platz, group exhibition, Berlin, Germany
‘Bewegung Als Denke’ group exhibition, Mensch Meier, group exhibition, Berlin, Germany
2021
‘Schrödingers Katzen’ group exhibition, abandoned building in Berlin, Germany
‘Passiv Aggressiv’ group exhibition , Galerie Sandra Bürgel, Berlin, Germany
2020
‘SMAK Moves: Drawing during Lockdown’ group exhibition at S.M.A.K. Museum voor Actuele Kunst, Ghent, Belgium
‘Lichtblick: Muted Video Exhibition’ group exhibition at Kunsthalle am Hamburger Platz, Berlin, Germany
‘Sabda Harian: Daily Shot’ online group exhibition with MilisiFilem Collective, Jakarta, Indonesia
‘Montage: Found Object’ online group exhibition with MilisiFilem Collective, Jakarta, Indonesia
‘Self Portraits & Distancing’ online group exhibition with MilisiFilem Collective, Jakarta, Indonesia
‘Proyek Ambangan’ group performance & exhibition at Cemeti Art Space, Yogyakarta, Indonesia
‘A Peek Into the Black and White Documents’ solo exhibition at Forum Lenteng, Jakarta, Indonesia
2019
‘Lem In Aja’ group exhibition at Rumah Ragam, Padang, Indonesia
2018
‘Corpus Alibi’ group exhibition at D’Gallerie, Jakarta, Indonesia
‘Social Organism’ group performance & exhibition with MilisiFilem Collective, National Gallery of Indonesia, Jakarta, Indonesia