Annah, Infinite
In Annah, Infinite, the dominant narratives surrounding Paul Gauguin’s famous painting Annah la Javanaise (1893-94) are turned upside down.

In questioning the ‘facts’ surrounding Annah’s life, Annah, Infinite draws attention to how historical narratives, shaped by colonial powers, have distorted Annah’s story. It critiques the systems of ablenormativity, racism, and sexism embedded in art institutions, and the way these structures mask the violent colonial legacies still haunting museum walls.

The work doesn’t just deconstruct mythologies; it brings to light the material realities of Annah’s portrait as both a commodity in the global market and a stark contradiction of the tropes surrounding disabled Southeast Asian girls in the so-called ‘developing world.’ It is an exploration of colonial ableism and a profound look at the long histories of resistance led by disabled people.

Interspersed with the author’s own poetry, fiction, and visual art on the painting’s subject, this is a book of emotional heft. It asks us all to acknowledge the possibility of pain in every single portrait, as well as the possibility of escape.

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Annah, Infinite
In Annah, Infinite, the dominant narratives surrounding Paul Gauguin’s famous painting Annah la Javanaise (1893-94) are turned upside down.

In questioning the ‘facts’ surrounding Annah’s life, Annah, Infinite draws attention to how historical narratives, shaped by colonial powers, have distorted Annah’s story. It critiques the systems of ablenormativity, racism, and sexism embedded in art institutions, and the way these structures mask the violent colonial legacies still haunting museum walls.

The work doesn’t just deconstruct mythologies; it brings to light the material realities of Annah’s portrait as both a commodity in the global market and a stark contradiction of the tropes surrounding disabled Southeast Asian girls in the so-called ‘developing world.’ It is an exploration of colonial ableism and a profound look at the long histories of resistance led by disabled people.

Interspersed with the author’s own poetry, fiction, and visual art on the painting’s subject, this is a book of emotional heft. It asks us all to acknowledge the possibility of pain in every single portrait, as well as the possibility of escape.

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Annah, Infinite

Annah, Infinite

by Khairani Barokka
Annah, Infinite

Annah, Infinite

by Khairani Barokka

Paperback

$25.95 
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Overview

In Annah, Infinite, the dominant narratives surrounding Paul Gauguin’s famous painting Annah la Javanaise (1893-94) are turned upside down.

In questioning the ‘facts’ surrounding Annah’s life, Annah, Infinite draws attention to how historical narratives, shaped by colonial powers, have distorted Annah’s story. It critiques the systems of ablenormativity, racism, and sexism embedded in art institutions, and the way these structures mask the violent colonial legacies still haunting museum walls.

The work doesn’t just deconstruct mythologies; it brings to light the material realities of Annah’s portrait as both a commodity in the global market and a stark contradiction of the tropes surrounding disabled Southeast Asian girls in the so-called ‘developing world.’ It is an exploration of colonial ableism and a profound look at the long histories of resistance led by disabled people.

Interspersed with the author’s own poetry, fiction, and visual art on the painting’s subject, this is a book of emotional heft. It asks us all to acknowledge the possibility of pain in every single portrait, as well as the possibility of escape.


Product Details

ISBN-13: 9781917126038
Publisher: Tilted Axis Press
Publication date: 11/11/2025
Pages: 352
Product dimensions: 5.08(w) x 7.79(h) x 0.00(d)

About the Author

Khairani Barokka is a writer and artist from Jakarta, based in London. In 2023, Okka was shortlisted for the Asian Women of Achievement Awards in the Arts and Culture category, and longlisted for the Loewe/Studio Voltaire Award. Her work centres disability justice as anticolonial praxis. Among her honours, she has been a UNFPA Indonesian Young Leader Driving Social Change, Editor of Modern Poetry in Translation, and Associate Artist at the UK’s National Centre for Writing. Okka is the author of four poetry books, most recently Barbellion Prize-shortlisted Ultimatum Orangutan and amuk.
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