[4] Feisal's indignation of Indonesia's academic system and its dismissal of art studies eventually lead to her departure from her home country in the early 1980s.

[4] Since the early 1980s, Arahmaiani's works have generated hostility on the part of Islamic community leaders and political authorities resulting in her short imprisonment in 1983.

Etalase consisted of objects such as the Quran, a Buddha statue, a mirror, a pack of condoms, a Coca-Cola bottle, a box of soil, a fan, a small rebana (traditional tambourine) and her photo placed in the same museum vitrine display case.

Similarly, another performance given by Feisal in 1995, titled Sacred Coke,[12] surrounded the use of Coca-Cola bottles to represent issues of Americanization and commodification.

The works were immediately censored and Arahmaiani herself received death threats which then led her to leave the country to Australia temporarily.

[10][13] Because of the poor condition of the original Lingga-Yoni, Arahmaiani made a new version of the painting for the exhibition at the Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art in 2013.

In a recent interview, Arahmaiani stated that coming from a mixed of Muslim, Hindu, Buddhist and Animist background, she wanted to make some sort of contribution to the conversation.

[10] Several major exhibitions she has participated are: the landmark exhibition at Asia Society in New York City, titled Traditions/Tensions in 1996; Jakarta International Performance Art Festival Jakarta, Indonesia in 2000 where she first performed the performative piece titled His-Story;[15] Global Feminisms, at the Brooklyn Museum in 2007; Suspended Histories, at the Museum Van Loon in Amsterdam, the Netherlands from 2013 to 2014; Women in Between: Asian Women Artists 1984–2012 at the Mie Prefectural Art Museum, Japan in 2013, and including also several other major exhibitions in Singapore and Australia.