An exhibition displaying a variety of artistic takes on the Ramayana opened from October 12 to 16, 2026, at the ASEAN Headquarters in Jakarta, Indonesia, in celebration of a decade of India’s Act East Policy and the Comprehensive Strategic Partnership between ASEAN and India. The showcase brought together visual traditions to celebrate the shared cultural heritage of ASEAN and India.
The exhibition arrived at the ASEAN Headquarters following a ten-day artists’ residency held in Shillong, Meghalaya, between March 29 and April 7, 2025. That initial camp, organized by India’s Ministry of External Affairs and the cultural organization SEHER, gathered 21 visual artists from ASEAN member states and India. Their finished works were subsequently unveiled at the Sushma Swaraj Institute of Foreign Service in New Delhi from April 20 to 24, 2026, before traveling to Jakarta.
H.E. Dato’ Astanah Abdul Aziz, Deputy Secretary-General of ASEAN for the ASEAN Political-Security Community, inaugurated the Jakarta exhibition as Chief Guest. The opening ceremony also featured welcome remarks by H.E. Srinivas Gotru, Ambassador of India to ASEAN, alongside statements from H.E. Evangeline T. Ong Jimenez-Ducrocq, who serves as the Permanent Representative of the Republic of the Philippines to ASEAN and the Chair of ASEAN 2026. Permanent representatives of ASEAN member states and ambassadors of dialogue partners attended the diplomatic gathering.
From Shillong Residencies to Jakarta Headquarters
The core of the exhibition centers on the epic of the Ramayana, which forms part of the shared cultural heritage of ASEAN and India. Over centuries, individual countries developed distinct national adaptations of the epic’s narrative arcs and character portrayals. The 2025 residency in Meghalaya gave the participating artists a collaborative platform to interpret these varied regional traditions into visual art.
Deputy Secretary-General of ASEAN for ASEAN Political-Security Community, Dato’ Astanah Abdul Aziz, officiated the ASEAN-India Artists’ Camp 3.0 Exhibition, themed Echoes of Ramayana: Artistic Journeys Across ASEAN and India at the ASEAN Headquarters/ASEAN Secretariat, Jakarta on… pic.twitter.com/kq0XaUat3L
Sanjeev Bhargava, Founder Director of SEHER, noted the unifying mechanism of these cultural narratives during the project’s progression. “Art is powerful, and when it is combined with stories, it becomes a shared language that speaks to the heart before it reaches the mind,” Bhargava stated regarding the initiative. “The Ramayana, a foundational cultural epic across ASEAN nations and adapted into unique national versions over centuries, gave each artist the space to interpret it through the version prevalent in their own country.”
| Project Milestone | Date | Location |
|---|---|---|
| Artists’ Camp 3.0 Residency | March 29 – April 7, 2025 | Shillong, Meghalaya, India |
| Initial Unveiling | April 20 – 24, 2026 | Sushma Swaraj Institute of Foreign Service, New Delhi |
| ASEAN Secretariat Showcase | October 12 – 16, 2026 | ASEAN Headquarters, Jakarta, Indonesia |
Soft Power and Institutional Partnerships
The exhibition serves as a manifestation of the Comprehensive Strategic Partnership between ASEAN and India. By utilizing cultural touchstones like the Ramayana, both regions aim to strengthen people-to-people connectivity. The presence of international ambassadors and secretariat leadership at the Jakarta headquarters underscores how artistic engagement functions as a tool for regional integration.
The showcase highlights how traditional epics continue to adapt across modern geopolitical boundaries, maintaining shared cultural memory while reflecting contemporary artistic techniques. As the exhibition concludes its run in Jakarta, the works remain a record of an artistic exchange managed through institutional cooperation between Indian ministries and ASEAN bodies.
