We are thrilled to announce our participation in Access Bangkok, the city’s first international art fair and a dynamic platform for discovery, collaboration, and cultural fusion. We’ll present works by a talented cohort of four artists: Nakrob Moonmanas, Prach Pimarnman, Imhathai Suwatthanasilp and ubatsat.
Overview
Artwork
Artists
Imhathai Suwatthanasilp is an internationally known artist, in particular for her use of human hair as the main material to create her artworks. She relates hair to the human experience through works that are tactile and emotive, posing existential questions to the audience. As such, Imhathai’s works explore notions of gender equality, life, death, violence, morality, and spiritual and beliefs systems especially in relation to Thai society. Responding to ongoing social concerns, Imhathai’s recent works expand to environmental issues that emphasise our individual participation and responsibility towards how we care for the nature surrounding us.
Her works have been exhibited internationally including the Gwangju Biennale 2024, South Korea; Biennale of Sydney 2022, Australia; Songkhla Pavillion 2019, Venice Biennale, Italy; Bangkok Art Biennale (BAB) 2018, Thailand; Jakarta Biennale 2017, Indonesia; Busan Biennale 2010, Korea; International Incheon Women Artists Biennale 2009, Korea. She has also participated in several museums show such at the Singapore Art Museum2012, Singapore; The Museum of Contemporary Art and Design 2011, Manila, Philippines; Coreana Museum of Art, Space*C 2011, Seoul, Korea; NCA Nichido Contemporary Art,2010, Tokyo, Japan. Her work is in the permanent collection of the Singapore Art Museum, Singapore; Maiiam Contemporary Art Museum, Thailand; and The Art of the City of Gothenburg, Sweden.
Born in 1990, Nakrob Moonmanas is a visual artist based in Bangkok, primarily working with Thai literature and history as well as their discourse and relations to the global narrative. His focus centers on exploring memories of Thai visual arts and cultures through the process of collage, as he endeavors to unveil and question them in various forms and dimensions. Infused with a contemporary aesthetic, the juxtaposition of local and exotic fragments creates an alternative chronicle, prompting a reexamination of the past. It nudges viewers to traverse through whispers of scenes that one might only partially remember, a distant murmur from an elusive past.
In 2020-2021, Moonmanas was a laureate of the Cité Internationale des Arts in Paris. His artist residency in Paris was supported by the Institut français and the Embassy of France in Bangkok, Thailand. In 2022, he was awarded GQ magazine Thailand’s Artist of the Year.
The artist held solo exhibitions such as ‘Sacrifice’ at People’s Gallery in Bangkok Arts and Cultural Centre in 2017 and ‘Coronet’ at Thonglor Art Space in 2018. Moonmanas also participated in group exhibitions, including ‘In-betweenness’ at The Prelude One Bangkok in 2019. In 2022, he exhibited in ‘The Immeasurable and World’s End at JWD Art Space’ and ‘Artificial Nature’ at Warin Lab Contemporary. In the same year, he held a solo exhibition “Timirbhu: the New World Order” at Jim Thompson Art Center, Bangkok.
In 2024, he collborated with Chitti Kasemkitvatana for the project “Our Place In Their World” for “The Spirits Of Maritime Crossing”, a collateral event in the 60th Venice Biennale. He also presented two works; one at Siwamokhaphiman Hall, National Museum Bangkok, and other at the Northern Chapel in the Temple of the Reclining Buddha, as part of Bangkok Biennale 2024.
Prach Pimarnman explores the intersection of stories and historical narratives of the Malay people residing in the provinces of Narathiwat, Pattani, and Yala, as well as in the area of historic regions such as Patani, Kelantan, and Kedah, where connections to Bangkok can be found. He delves deeper into the diverse peoples of Narathiwat, where we often overhear terms like “mountain people” and “sea people” being used to describe some minority groups. With the exhibition From Nomad to Nowhere, Prach particularly focuses on the sea people, with whom he has been familiarised and grew up within the same community.
Prach earned his Bachelor’s degree in Visual Arts from the Faculty of Fine and Applied Arts at Prince of Songkla University, Pattani Campus, in 2009, followed by a Master’s degree in Thai Visual Arts from the Faculty of Painting, Sculpture, and Graphic Arts at Silpakorn University in 2011. He later went on to study wood sculpture and exhibited his works at The Art Students League of New York during a short-term program in 2012. Currently, Prach holds a PhD in Visual Arts from the Faculty of Painting, Sculpture, and Graphic Arts at Silpakorn University and works as a full-time lecturer in Applied Arts at the Faculty of Fine and Applied Arts, Prince of Songkla University, Pattani Campus. He founded “De’ Lapae Art Space,” in Narathiwat in 2015 and the group “Satu ≠ Padu Collaborative” in 2021.
Prach’s artworks have been exhibited in both solo and group exhibitions in various galleries and museums, such as the MAIIAM Contemporary Art Museum in Thailand, Ilham Gallery in Malaysia, Art4C Gallery and Creative Learning Space, and SAC Gallery. He has also been invited to participate in art festivals, including the 2022 Bangkok Art Biennale and the 2023 Thailand Biennale in Chiang Rai. His works have been featured in art books and magazines, both domestically and internationally, and have been collected by the Office of Contemporary Art and Culture as part of the national collection.
Born in 1980 in Bangkok, ubatsat (pseudonym) earns a bachelor degree in Visual Arts and a master degree in Philosophy and Religion from Chiang Mai university.
ubatsat is an artist and social activist. As a research-based artist, ubatsat creates artwork that narrates situations where people are under pressure or in crisis. His art practice includes collaboration with communities such as farmers, craftsmen, musicians, cooks, and specialists in particular field. Through his art, he creates a platform or an artistic situation that enables collaboration with different stakeholders. ubatsat’s multidisciplinary art includes painting, sculpture, printing and site-specific work.
In 2017, he participated in Rikuzentakata Artist in Residence Program in Japan. His artwork was also part of Entwine: Maybank Women Eco-Weavers Travelling Exhibition at National Museum of Singapore in 2019. His artwork titled ‘Thai Death Star’ was selected to participate in Bangkok Art Biennale 2020.
His solo exhibitions include Sox Star (2019) at Chiangmai University Art & Culture Center; White Eel in the Dawn of the Exile (2020) at Jojo Kobe Gallery, Chiangmai; Train Song (2021) at Dream Space Gallery, Chiangmai; the Alchemy of Marcel Duchamp and the Way of Holy Man (2021) at VS Gallery, Bangkok; Burmica (2022) at Suvannabhumi Art Gallery, Chiangmai; and No Distance to Khon Pi Luang (2023) at Warin Lab Contemporary, Bangkok.