Solo Exhibition: Sporadic

In his latest solo exhibition, Sporadic, John Navid takes a more focused approach than in his previous show Menangkap Gelagat. This time, he concentrates on one subject: spores. The project began with dragon fruit, where John cultivated mushrooms and observed the gradual changes in the mycelium. Over days and weeks, he paid close attention to its quiet transformations, documenting each stage through his camera.

The idea started from a project initiated by a childhood friend, a fashion designer Heaven Tanudiredja, who invited John to collaborate for a new collection. From there, John followed his own way of working, one that leans on instinct rather than a fixed plan. He allowed the process to move naturally, letting each photograph take shape in its own time. It’s a way of working that mirrors the subject itself: unpredictable in form, but always growing toward something. It’s also what inspired the exhibition’s title, Sporadic, a word that speaks to both John’s creative process and the spores at the heart of the work.

The exhibition brings together seven works printed on different mediums, including lightbox and metallic paper. These mediums make the photographs feel different depending on where you stand and how the light hits them: colors shift, details appear, and the depth changes as you move. One piece takes the form of an acrylic-on-canvas painting by a fellow artist, created from one of John’s photographs in this project. The collaboration adds another voice to the series, showing how a single image can evolve through a different set of hands and eyes.

On view at spaCCCe Grand Wijaya until 31 August 2025, Sporadic invites visitors to slow down and notice the small, steady changes that happen over time. It’s a quiet look at growth and transformation, reminding us that not everything needs to follow a plan. Sometimes, the best things take shape in their own sporadic way.

Photo by: Rama