Born 1989, Bangkok, Thailand
Kasarin Himacharoen (Tak Tak) focuses on female experiences of sexual desire, menstruation and sexual harassment. At first glance her works may appear simple, even whimsical, but a closer look reveals their subversive intent. Since the Second Wave feminism of the 1970s, feminist artists have used explicit vaginal imagery and representations of the female body as a means of countering the patriarchal objectification of the ‘male gaze’. In Himacharoen’s screen-prints, figures of women with tiny heads and large, curvy bodies recall primeval goddess figures, or Niki de Saint Phalle’s exuberant balloon-like women. The stylised curls of their vulvae are their most dominant feature. The Sex Delight series (2022) depicts multiple women whose overlapping forms, spread legs and flower-like genitalia create complex patterns. The overwhelming sensation is of joyful sexual exploration, an embrace of pleasure that is a courageous artistic statement in a Buddhist culture which is still sexually conservative.
A graduate of King Mongkut’s Institute of Technology Ladkrabang (KMITL), Kasarin Himacharoen applies her knowledge of graphic arts and printmaking to the depiction of her own experience as a woman. She says she prefers to draw the unclothed figure in order to be truthful: ‘I would rather draw pictures of naked bodies to express what I feel without distortion or manipulation.’ The Sexual Harassment series (2022) presents a darker aspect of the universal female experience. Here, the joy of sexual experimentation has given way to the constant groping, the greedy, grasping hands, and the invasion of personal space to which all women, always and everywhere, are subjected.