Nova Ruth

Nova Ruth is a life artist, musician and activist. Her first music project, the conscious rap duo Twin Sista performed in contexts as diverse as prisons, cheesy shopping malls, poetry festivals and punk gigs across her native Indonesia. As a solo performer, Nova Ruth spread her poetry and raps wider, traveling to Australia in 2008 at the invitation of Gang Festival. Nova is now part of the Barcelona-based AV project Filastine, where she sings, raps and plays drums on stages from Cairo to Paris to Tokyo. Her work with Filastine includes a pair of videos that address cultural and ecological frictions, winning critical acclaim and an award from the United Nations OCHA. Despite being on tour nearly half of every year Nova continues to dedicate much of her time to projects within Indonesia, including two acoustic bands, Ajér and Mimimintuno. Nova recently opened a cafe & cultural space called Legipait in her hometown of Malang, Java, where she organizes art expositions, micro-concerts, and readings. Nova worked for years with Engage Media, a social justice and environmental video site for the Asia Pacific. Her most recent project is a local environmental action group, SUMUK, focused on raising awareness of regional deforestation and pollution.

Photo: Kirill Kotov @Kirill69kotov