Ari Bayuaji's series "Weaving the Ocean" transforms the jetsam of plastic ropes disentangled from the roots of mangrove trees along the coast of Indonesia into hauntingly beautiful tapestries. Ari Bayuaji is inspired not only by the rich textile culture of the artist’s homeland (Indonesia), but also by the weaving cultures from many different countries worldwide as a living heritage.

Aesthetically engaging, Bayuaji's tapestries result from a creative salvage and up-cycling process that saw the artist and locally recruited assistants scour the shoreline of Bali to collect and clean plastic ropes that washed up on shore and then unravelled them into fine colourful threads. In collaboration with a traditional Balinese weaving workshop, Bayuaji designs and creates unique textile pieces in an environmentally conscious way that has provided financial security to local crafts persons and economies since the beginning of the global pandemic. Bayuaji's equally stunning sculptural practice also draws upon the ocean's detritus as source material - including ropes, minerals and other elements that wash up on shore.

Ari Bayuaji has been traveling extensively internationally to participate in numerous artist-in-residency programs while also participating in international group shows in Korea, Taiwan, Denmark, Indonesia, Germany and The United States. His works are part of the permanent collection of Musée des Beaux Arts de Montréal and the Musée National des Beaux-Arts du Québec and have been exhibited in major solo exhibitions in Singapore, Taipei (Taiwan), Ste-Alvère (France), Dusseldorf (Germany), Rotterdam,(Netherlands), Toronto (Canada) Sydney (Australia), Bangkok (Thailand), Washington DC (USA), and Jogjakarta (Indonesia). Ari just recently created installations of his work from his Weaving the Ocean project at the 2023 Cheongju Craft Biennale and the 2023 Busan Sea Art Festival in South Korea. His solo installation, Weaving the Ocean: In Ari Bayuaji's Studio is currently on view at the Biosphère Museum in Montreal and he is participating in the Bangkok Biennale opening in October 2024.