CHRISTINA TJANDRA
b. 1990 in Java Island, Indonesia. Lives and works in Toronto, Canada
Story telling is a very important aspect in the Indonesian arts and culture. Christina Sandi Tjandra grew up surrounded by educators and Indonesian fine artists that hold Indonesian narrative-culture close to their hearts. As an artist, story telling is something that she cares and loves dearly and she practices the tradition throughout her artwork.
Raised in the Indonesian art community, she participated and won numerous drawing competitions, local and national level. She was also a child environment activist where she was chosen to be the delegate of Republic of Indonesia for United Nation Environmental Programme conferences in USA and Japan. She travelled, made comics and posters throughout her active years to spread her project for the international eyes.
Christina Sandi Tjandra graduated from the Environmental Design (Architecture program), Ontario College of Arts and Design.
During her university years, she stumbled upon vernacular architecture and she instantly fell in love with it. Vernacular architecture exposes the means of human survival and she whimsically plays with the idea of “machines for living”. Using visual narrative as mirror to understand lives and traditions, Tjandra creates unconventional dwellings that explore the issues of possibilities, reality and fantasy. Through her drawings, she tells stories and let the audiences inhabit the speculative space, giving them opportunity to imagine, think or even question.
Tjandra’s work was published in American Illustration 31, exhibited her work in the Society of Illustrators in New York City and she also did drawings for the New Yorker.
She is represented by #Hashtag Gallery, Toronto, ON, Canada.
