If you’re looking for a reason to wander off the beaten track this March, make it a slow afternoon at Gillman Barracks—where art, history, and leafy calm collide. Tucked inside this former military enclave, Mizuma Gallery is staging Faces & Figures, a group exhibition that feels less like a white-cube presentation and more like an intimate peek into the inner lives of six remarkable Indonesian artists.

Running from 7 to 20 March 2026, Faces & Figures brings together works by Agan Harahap, Agus Suwage, Budi Agung Kuswara, Gilang Fradika, I Made Djirna, and Jumaadi. On the surface, the exhibition is anchored by recognisable figures—faces, bodies, ancestral forms—but spend a little time here and you’ll realise these works are really about memory, belief, and the messy present we all inhabit.

Harahap’s photographs pull you in first. Blending pop culture with subtle social critique, his images look familiar at a glance, then quietly unravel your trust in what photography is supposed to tell us about “reality.” Nearby, Suwage’s paintings crackle with irony: self-portraits and figures layered with wit, contradiction, and an unmistakably sharp eye on human nature.

There’s a beautiful tension running through the show between past and present. Kuswara draws on the meticulous linework of traditional kamasan painting, linking faceless figures from Indonesia’s colonial history with today’s globalised visual culture. Fradika, on the other hand, collapses time and space altogether, his imaginative scenes feel like fragments of stories you’re invited to finish yourself.

Djirna’s canvases are dense, almost overflowing. Rooted in Balinese spirituality, they swarm with mortals, spirits, and ritual symbols, echoing a worldview where the seen and unseen coexist. Then there’s Jumaadi, whose works on cloth and buffalo hide carry a quieter emotional punch—stories of kinship, love, and resilience, often delivered with dark humour and a light, human touch.

Part of the pleasure of Faces & Figures is its setting. Gillman Barracks, with its colonial-era buildings and tropical greenery, invites you to slow down. Come late morning, wander the galleries, then linger over lunch or coffee nearby—it’s one of those rare pockets in Singapore where time seems to stretch.

Faces & Figures runs from 7th to 20th March 2026 at Mizuma Gallery, 22 Lock Road, #01-34, Gillman Barracks, Singapore 108939. More information available here