the mundane carries intensity and turbulence with Shia Yih Yiing and Renuka Rajiv
Opening: December 12, 2025, at 5 p.m.

We cordially invite you to the opening of the group exhibition ‘the mundane carries intensity and turbulence’ by our guest artists Shia, Yih Yiing and Renuka Rajiv on 12 December at 5 p.m. The works were created during their residency at basis e.V. as part of the air_frankfurt programme in collaboration with Lostgens' the Goethe-Institut Malaysia and the Goethe-Institut Max Mueller Bhavan Bangalore.

SHIA YIH YIING
I was inspired by the tale of the Swan Maiden or “animal wife,” where a man steals a swan maiden’s feathered robe and forces her into marriage. She learns human customs, but her wild nature becomes a source of conflict. The story often ends with her reclaiming her robe, returning to her animal form, and leaving behind a crafted object for her human family.

This work is a self-reflection on freedom and the family who let me go to pursue my artistic path. My alter ego, Miss Nature, travels as “Nature’s Wife”—a metaphor for Indigenous women, their deep ties to ancestral land, and their role in protecting natural resources.

Shia Yih Yiing (b. 1967, Sarawak) graduated from the Malaysian Institute of Art with a Diploma in Fine Art in 1992, then attained her Master of Arts (Honours) from the University of Western Sydney in 2005. Yih Yiing is drawn to allegory, symbolism and layered storytelling. Her Renaissance-inspired rural family portraits earned her the Commonwealth Foundation Fellowship in Art & Craft, leading her to engage in visual art research in Australia. Her works often explore themes of identity, ecology and collective memory through personal and cultural narratives.

RENUKA RAJIV
During my residency in Frankfurt, the riso collective risoparadiso (Katharina Hantke) introduced me to the riso printing process. So I reconnected with a regular practice of drawing. This has included a little life drawing but mostly working from imagination and trying to depict what I see here in the everyday. Scenes from my walks along the river as well as from the city forest. Water birds have always felt evocative and it has been a pleasure to be so close so often to the geese, herons and cormorants amongst others. They have been my muses in Frankfurt. 

Renuka Rajiv is an artist based in Bangalore working across mediums such as textile, small sculpture, drawing, zines, artist books and installation. They are driven by compulsive material practice and personal narrative. Renuka thinks through making. Themes in their work broadly speaking are friendship, sexuality, intimacy, loneliness, ecology and animal companionship.

They studied short-film production at Srishti School of Art, Design and Technology in Bangalore and a Bachelor of Fine Arts (with Honours) majoring in printmaking at Victorian College of Art, Melbourne. Their work has been exhibited recently at Chitrakala Parishad (Bangalore), ShrineEmpire (Delhi), FICA (Delhi), Vancouver Queer Arts Festival (Canada), Silvia’s Mother (UK) and Museum of Art and Photography (Bangalore).

Location: basis e.V.
Gutleutstr. 8–12 (Mezzanine)

Opening hours: 13 – 18 December
Saturday/Sunday: 12 – 6 p.m.
Monday–Thursday: 2 – 6 p.m.