Asian Artists to Watch 2024: Wantanee Siripattananuntakul
Each year, we identify the Asian artists on the rise, shining a light on the exciting and provocative works enriching the region’s artistic and cultural landscape. Thai artist Wantanee Siripattananuntakul shares her story.
After completing her studies at Silpakorn University, Wantanee Siripattananuntakul went to to study under professor Jean-Françis Guiton at the University of the Arts in Bremen, Germany, eventually becoming
a meisterschüler (master pupil). Now back in Bangkok, she divides her time between lecturing at Silpakorn University and her own artistic pursuits.
Her creations employ different media, including video, sound, sculptures, and installations, and her themes primarily reflect her explorations of socio-political issues, economic disparity and the intricate relationships between human societies and the natural world. Between 2013 and 2019, her Beuys Project encompassed various approaches, incorporating activities mirrored by German artist Joseph Beuys’s art projects. The resulting video art, photography and object-based works document the interactions with an African grey parrot named Beuys.
However, in 2018 the project shifted direction: rather than solely drawing inspiration from Joseph Beuys’s art, Siripattananuntakul began to explore a more personal and intimate connection with both the parrot and other creatures. “In this evolution, I intend to gain new perspectives and insights by immersing myself in the lives of Beuys and other species, thereby enhancing my understanding of the world around me,” she explains.
Featuring Beuys, her video The Web of Time was displayed in the 2022 Bangkok Art Biennale, while more recent works include Making the Unknown Known (2023), which was exhibited at Frieze London. It explores the entanglement of wild birds and elephants in human conflicts, symbolising the natural world and echoing territorial disputes. Meanwhile, her latest work, Making the Disappeared Appear, is a five-channel video installation currently on show in the Thailand Biennale Chiang Rai, which confronts the erasure of key animal species from Chiang Rai region, as a consequence of geopolitical disputes and societal changes.
See our Art Basel Hong Kong coverage here.
(Header image: Making the Unknown Known (2023) installation view)
Source: Prestige Online
