This arresting trapunto by Pacita Abad, titled Pandu Dewanata, exemplifies her richly layered technique: painted canvas stitched onto a supple backing and stuffed to create vibrant, three-dimensional textures—a method she termed “trapunto,” derived from the Italian for “to embroider.” The title, Pandu Dewanata, draws on the name of the famed character who fathered the five Pandava brothers in the epic Mahabharata, imbuing the work with sacred gravitas and cultural resonance that complement its tactile exuberance.

In 1994, Pandu Dewanata stood as the cover piece of the exhibition catalog for Abad’s landmark solo exhibition Warang, Irian, and Sumba at the National Museum of Indonesia. The exhibition’s title references rich Indonesian cultural zones: “Warang” alluding to traditional Indonesian shadow puppets; “Irian” denoting the Papua region of Western New Guinea; and “Sumba” to the eponymous eastern Indonesian island. Together, the trio evokes Abad’s deep engagement with the pluralistic arts of the archipelago, honoring indigenous carved and woven forms through her exuberant textile painterly practice. Pandu Dewanata embodies both Abad’s formal inventiveness and her global sensibility. It resonates with her recent touring retrospective (2023–2024), which graced the Walker Art Center, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, MoMA PS1, and the Art Gallery of Ontario, underscoring the renewed critical attention to her boundary-defying work as a trailblazing Filipina artist.

Rendered in bold hues, lavish ornament, and sumptuous layering, Pandu Dewanata summons ancestral energies while transforming textile traditions into contemporary, portable sculpture. Its featured placement on the exhibition catalog cover signals its emblematic stature within Abad’s oeuvre—as both an aesthetic tour de force and a cultural bridge spanning the Global South.