Publications

DISPLACED

DISPLACED the politics of ethnicity and religion in the art of Jakkai Siributr

The evolving place and content of Thai Buddhism have preoccupied Jakkai Siributr for over a decade. In this mid-career exhibition, via three monumental installation works, Jakkai Siributr examines sectarian tensions in Thailand and Myanmar. This is an active show where the artist uses textile, video, and participative and virtual sharing strategies to co-opt audiences to critically engage with complex ideas about minority rights, history, nationalist politics and power in Thailand, Southeast Asian, and beyond. In particular, the 2017 piece Changing Room invites audiences to handle and try-on the work, encouraging gallery selfies posted on Instagram, and so bringing the art and its ideas out into the world through virtual technology. DISPLACED balances poetic aesthetics and conceptual power to convey a critical outlook on pressing tensions in Southeast Asia and the world today.