Sombong
Pride- Moving
- showing off, always the one who knows best.
- Still
- quietly sure you are the humblest one in the room.
Finalist · J+ Art Awards 2026
Peccata Pulchra
For Sins are Often Beautiful
Thalia Halim & Samuel Alexander
An interactive installation that merges painting with robotic movement. Through a camera-based mechanism, visitors are invited to perform a simple gesture: opening and closing their hand before the lens. Open your hand and the flowers bloom; close it and they fold shut. The gesture directly controls the movement of the robotic flowers, allowing visitors to physically interact with and influence the artwork.
- Medium
- Acrylic on paper, plywood, stepper motors, microprocessor, camera, custom software
- Dimensions
- 96 × 60 × 30 cm
- Year
- 2026
Artists' statement
This piece can be opened, and it can be closed.
Closed, you see sin for what it is: ugly. Literal.
Open, it bursts into colour. Beautiful. That is on purpose, because sin has rarely arrived wearing an ugly face.
We used to think avoiding sin was simple: just don’t do it. It isn’t. Once the heart has been eaten through by hatred and misery, whether we move or keep still, we sin all the same.
Only the costume changes.
Move, and you sin.
Keep still, and you sin.
Six sins, two costumes each
The same sin, dressed twice
Nafsu
Lust- Moving
- chasing, taking, treating people as a destination.
- Still
- holding it in, imagining, wanting it all inside your head.
Marah
Wrath- Moving
- exploding, ranting, slamming doors.
- Still
- going cold, keeping score, holding a grudge.
Malas
Sloth- Moving
- staying furiously busy to avoid the one thing that actually matters.
- Still
- putting it off, lying down, “later.”
Iri
Envy- Moving
- comparing, measuring other people’s lives with a sharp tongue.
- Still
- watching other people’s lives for hours while pretending not to care.
Serakah
Greed- Moving
- collecting, chasing, always wanting more.
- Still
- hoarding, having plenty and gripping it tight.
You may have counted already: six, not seven. Yes, one of them stayed home.
Kerakusan
Gluttony · not paintedWe didn’t paint gluttony, because the artists are already carrying it.
This piece was born of appetite: hungry to try, hungry to be seen, hungry to make more than we could possibly finish (and yes, hungry for actual food). It didn’t feel right to paint a sin we are still chewing on.
Buka, tutup
Sin, given a body, is beautiful, and we rarely notice we are the ones holding the door open for it.
Move, and you sin. Keep still, and you sin.
So, which will you choose?
Made by two
The artists
Thalia Halim
A self-taught painter from Surabaya, best known for painting live at weddings and events. Every panel of Peccata Pulchra was painted by hand in acrylic before it was ever folded.
Samuel Alexander
Samuel gave the paintings their muscles and their eyes: the motors, the microprocessor, the camera and the software that decide when each sin opens up or folds away.