Nusagara

Being aware of the magnitude of Indonesian marine biodiversity, alongside the availability of its literature and non-literature sources, there’s a need for a media which is not merely in literature form to introduce these potential.

One that is able to evoke and or increase public interest and attention towards Indonesian marine biodiversity. Also realizing the potential within Indonesian creative industry, especially the fashion based one, I designed a series of introductory illustration of Indonesian unique marine life forms entitled “Nusagara”.

A series of illustration which combine the unique marine life forms with marvelous Indonesian ornaments, applied on t-shirt with integrated QR-code system and website.

Nusagara takes you to unravel and tell the tales from some of the most unique

marine creatures spread across Indonesian archipelago.

Taken from 'Nusantara' which means Indonesian Archipelago and 'Sagara' which means ocean in Sanskrit, the name itself gives the idea of what the series is all about. The ambigram represents symmetry, an important element found ubiquitously among traditional Indonesian visual arts; which has relevance with the concept of 'three wolrds' thriving in shamanic cultures arround Indonesia.

Furthermore, the colour scheme that is used suggested an overall misterious, modern, yet majestic feeling; as gold itself has always been considered as precious metal and used as adornments, charms, weapons and many more since ancient times across Indonesia, believing tremendous spiritual force it holds.

The ornaments used were inspired by traditional visual arts and crafts that thrive arround the region of each species habitat.