Other Possible Worlds:

Contemporary Art from Thailand

Introduction

These materials are designed for students in Years 11 and 12 studying Visual Arts through either the NSW Preliminary and HSC or the IB syllabuses. They aim to provide interesting entry points through which teachers and students can engage with works in the exhibition, and suggestions for more in-depth case studies.

The five artists selected for student engagement indicate the rich diversity of practice among contemporary artists in Thailand. They employ media ranging from painting and printmaking to textiles, photomedia, video and installation, revealing aspects of their personal, social, cultural and political worlds. Questions invite students to engage with the material and conceptual practice of each artist, and to make connections with their wider study of contemporary art.

About Thai Contemporary Art

Thailand (previously Siam) was not occupied by foreign powers during the era of colonialism, a historical twist of fate that is central to Thai ideas of nationhood. Thailand has, however, relied on foreign powers economically and through diplomatic trade agreements through the modernising twentieth century, and foreign influences, adapted, transformed and “localised” similarly influenced the development of modern art. In the late twentieth and into the twenty-first centuries in a time of increasing political instability within Thailand, artists such as Montien Boonma, Surasi Kusolwong, Rirkrit Tiravaneja and Pinaree Sanpitak brought an identifiably Thai identity into works shown globally. Navigating the tensions between tradition and contemporaneity, their work explores themes ranging from the resilience of Buddhist tradition in a globalising materialist world and Thailand’s explosive political situation, to social inequalities between different ethnic, religious and social groups and the experience of women in a patriarchal society.

For more on the development of Thai contemporary art:

https://aura-asia-art-project.com/en/news/overview-history-of-contemporary-art-in-thailand/

https://artsandculture.google.com/story/thai-contemporary-artistic-practices-in-transition/NQJCRH929G-OIQ

https://www.frieze.com/article/after-academy-how-thai-contemporary-art-began