Main Exhibition
Once Becoming: A Visible Presence (ครั้นก่อรูปการณ์)
Organised by Bangkok Art and Culture Centre and the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration
Principal Corporate Supporter: Thai Beverage Public Company Limited
Media Partners: ONCE, KiNdconnext
Guest Curator: Kritsada Duchsadeevanich
Advisory Curator: Penwadee Nophaket Manont
Artists
Kanya Charoensupkul
Piyarat Piyapongwiwat
Pinaree Sanpitak
Pim Sudhikam
Ladda Saratayon
Lawan Jirasuradej
Wantanee Siripattananuntakul
Sriwan Janehuttakarnkit
Sasithorn Ariyavicha
Sanitas Pradittasnee
Som Supaparinya
Araya Rasdjarmrearnsook
What Takes Form, in Time Unfolds: On Formation and Emergence
Under the conceptual framework of “faint visibility” as a process that accumulates and takes shape over time within differing social, cultural, and power structures, the emergence of women artists in Thai art history cannot be understood as a sudden appearance. Rather, it is a gradual insertion into the flow of modern art that continues into contemporary practice.
While women artists have been present across different periods, their presence has often existed within complex layers of overlap, shaped by institutional frameworks and systems of recognition that have historically privileged male artists. As a result, their contributions have frequently been positioned as secondary narratives, existing at the edge of perception, present yet not fully visible.
Nevertheless, within these layered conditions, many women artists have produced work that not only persists but also offers deeply engaged perspectives on contemporary society. Their practices address issues of identity, the body, social roles, and lived experience. These works are not merely expressions, but acts of questioning that engage with existing structures and modes of perception within art history.
In this exhibition, “unfolding” does not simply signify growth, but rather the moment when what has long existed in subtle, overlapping, or marginalised forms begins to appear more clearly within the field of perception. This visibility does not mark a new beginning, but a re-articulation of what has always been there.
The sustained continuity of artistic practice demonstrates that contemporary women artists possess a strong conceptual grounding and a critical engagement with surrounding social conditions. Their work reflects the intellectual momentum of the contemporary world across multiple dimensions.
This exhibition invites viewers to consider the interconnectedness of time through the presence of women artists, tracing continuities from modern to contemporary art. Rather than a rupture, this trajectory reveals an ongoing process of formation that moves across and overlaps between periods. The past does not disappear, but continues to resonate within the present, while contemporary practices offer new ways of re-reading history.
Once Becoming: A Visible Presence exhibition unfolds the history of presence within the artistic practices of women artists, both in terms of emergence and continued existence. Over time, the core concerns of these artists remain, yet their intensities and movements within the contemporary world have reshaped the meanings of presence in compelling ways. By bringing together works from different periods, the exhibition creates a dialogue that reveals subtle traces of presence and transformation. What once emerged quietly in the past has now grown into a more pronounced and visible force.
The temporal gap between artists of different generations is not merely a distance, but a space of transition, a field in which time accumulates and shapes the processes of formation, existence, and unfolding. The present is therefore not a beginning, but a moment in which previously subtle presences become visible. To exist without visibility does not mean absence; rather, it signals a layered condition that continues to influence contemporary intellectual currents. The flow of art history remains in motion, revealing, shifting, and responding to the complexities of the world and society today.
Image Gallery
