In his most recent paintings, Putra re-examines historic archival footage of the Dutch colonization in Bali in the early to mid 1900s. This follows the artist’s decade-long research interest in uncovering the stories of Indonesian veterans and the surviving fighters of Indonesia’s revolution: a generation of men who have been marginalized by history. Using archival colonial photographs published by Dutch institutions, Putra re-imagines historic scenes, changing the emphasis by placing the Balinese people at the center. The eleven works presented in Between History and the Quotidian also display Mangu Putra’s affinity for hyper-realism, and an uncompromising attention to detail. In conjunction with the exhibition Mangu Putra: Between History and The Quotidian at Gajah Gallery 24 November – 11 December 2016