Odyssey: Hearth & Mire

Srisasanti Gallery is pleased to present Odyssey: Hearth & Mire, Liffi Wongso’s first solo exhibition with the gallery.

A place where fire is kept inside a home, the hearth, suggests a familiar feeling of being inside or indoors, surrounded by warmth. Mire, on the other hand, brings to mind the bodily sensation of soil or mud. Its heaviness, its cling, its dampness, and the feeling of being outside. The exhibition title is held together by the idea of an odyssey, pointing out Liffi’s introspective journey through an internal terrain, seeking wonder in the unnoticed ordinary that lingers between comfort and unease.

In her latest body of work, Liffi reflects the feeling of being a child once described as “mediocre.” Instead of dwelling on the ordinary, she begins to ask whether ordinariness might carry its own form of greatness. She developed a habit of noticing small things around her, imagining presences inside everyday things. Drawing and painting became her way of bringing that imagination to life, to reveal that simplicity itself holds wonder.

Drawing inspiration from ancient Western fairy tales and folklore, Liffi’s works depict hybrid flora, almost like botanical illustrations placed in overlapping layers. Flowers, leaves, and fungi grow freely, while vines and branches twist and turn. Within the abundance, slender girls with elongated limbs inhabit and blend with the compositions. Their hair extends and flows as long strands that seem to merge with roots and petals around them. Their bodies do not dominate the setting. Rather, they are woven into it. They seem to grow from and blend in with their surroundings, instead of merely standing out as the main characters