July 21 to July 28
My exhibition “particle” (2019) explored the origins of urbanization and the exploitation of natural resources, with a focus on the commercial extraction of limestone. I choose limestone as a center of the themes as a construction boom in Southeast Asia is driving demand for a core ingredient of cement — limestone, which is derived from natural resources, i.e. blasting limestone mountains. It results in destruction of the fragile ecosystem and also affect livelihoods of people living in communities around the mountains.
In the project “Particle,” I produced an experimental work that has a mixture of documentary, cinematography and artistry. The exhibition consisted of three mediums including the video installation, the sculptures and the painting.
Regarding the video installation, it is a merging of a documentary about the effect of extractive capitalism on a community in Cambodia where the community has been fenced off from the mountains because of a concession agreement to a multinational corporation; blending into a fictional narrative of an anonymous man in a fictive realm.
Piyarat Piyapongwiwat (b. 1977, Thailand) is a multidisciplinary artist working with various media. Her practice centers on documentation as a method to expose and question the conditions and implications of our globalised economy and social issues. Whether it is video, photograph, or installation, she often uses these various media not merely as a record keeping, but as an attempt to map our inter-connected world through voices of individuals.
Piyarat is a 2017 recipient of the Japan Foundation Asia Center Fellowship Program. She holds a BFA from Ecole Supérieure des Beaux-Arts de Montpellier Agglomération, France. She has presented works locally and internationally including the 6th Asian Art Biennial: Negotiating the Future, Taiwan, the 12th Gwangju Biennale: Imagined Borders, South Korea and 2016 Seismograph: Sensing the City – Art in the Urban Age, Art Stage Singapore.
Her work is held in Museum collections including Singapore Art Museum, MAIIAM Contemporary Art Museum and Bangkok Art & Culture Centre as well as private collections.
She is currently represented by Gallery VER, Bangkok.