Exhibitions
100 Tonson Foundation
Nov 30, 2023 - May 26, 2024
Jakkai Siributr: Matrilineal, Curated by Loredana Pazzini-Paracciani
Courtesy of the Artist and 100 Tonson Foundation.
Conceived in continuation of 18/28: The Singhaseni Tapestries (2018), a series of embroideries centered on the passing of Siributr’s mother, Matrilineal at 100 Tonson Foundation, Bangkok, hinges on two main concepts: the importance of giving voice to minor narratives from the past by acknowledging their memories and legacies; and the awareness of the impermanence of life, tightly woven into the universal pain of loss and bereavement.
Framed in this context, Matrilineal marks a first for Jakkai Siributr, in many ways.
Foremost, Matrilineal is an exhibition about the essence of womanhood, intended as a gendered perception. Expanding his ongoing focus on social issues, with Matrilineal Siributr emphasizes the role of significant female figures in his family vis-à-vis the hardship and sacrifices as a shared condition among women in a patriarchal society, regardless of rank or social status. Matrilineal is, therefore, a predominantly intimist exhibition, realized through the artist’s own observation of his relationship with his mother, aunts and grandmother—figures that have shaped him into the person he is today and that have now passed, thus no longer able to tell their stories. As such, the exhibition furthers Siributr’s evolving interest in existential notions of ephemerality and grief, as well as the therapeutic power of art-making.
Known for his iconic use of embroidery, stitching and quilting, Siributr is one of the most notable practitioners of textile art—an artform traditionally considered to be gendered-specific. In further exploring the female-driven approach of the show through this medium, Matrilineal presents an entirely new body of works made exclusively from reassembled and repurposed garments, textiles and personal objects that belonged to the significant women in the artist’s family.
On one hand resonating with a wider audience with its emphasis on the role of women and their legacies, Matrilineal’s geographical and temporal coordinates are specific to the 20th- 21st century Thailand, particularly between the reigns of King Rama VII (1926–1935) and King Rama IX (1946–2016), when the artist’s family history intersects with that of the nation. This was an era of historical complexity, spanning the shift from absolute to constitutional monarchy, World War II, and the successions of several reigns amid student-led protests – a period recorded primarily by its male protagonists into the grand narrative of Thai modern history as we experience it today. In the background were the women—mothers, grandmothers, sisters, wives, daughters, aunties—weaving the threads of their own family history in the spirit of resilience and female solidarity.
Unearthing their memories and, thus, remembering their lives as women and makers of home and family, Matrilineal pays tribute to the essence of womanhood by way of chronicling history’s minor narrative within Thai patriarchal society. From large textile installations, embroidered intimate portraits, to reinvented vintage garments through beading and stitching, these works feature Siributr’s mother and her sisters, and his grandmother in retrospection, reflecting on their personal journeys and legacies. Archival objects and paintings of the artist’s family are featured with the new embroideries, culminating in the presentation of specifically designed floral arrangement to underline notions of ephemerality and longing, sentiments that connect us as human beings in the circle of life.
Jakkai Siributr is known primarily for his textile and embroidery works, and his installations increasingly offer an element of audience participation. Siributr is concerned with the unofficial histories that have been written out of Thai account as well as intersections between personal and regional histories. He creates a delicate tension between his subject matter — ongoing conflict driven by nationalistic discrimination against minorities — and the visual sensuality of his chosen form and materials. More recently he has begun to work with various communities through embroidery workshops including refugees on the Thai-Myanmar border and the USA. He also worked with the Thai Government on a social developmental program in remote areas of Mozambique.
Studying and residing in the USA for nearly ten years, Siributr earned his BA in Textiles/Fine Arts, at Indiana University Bloomington in 1992 and MS in Printed Textile Design at the Philadelphia University in 1996. He was an instructor at Thammasat University’s Faculty of Fine and Applied Arts from 1996-2003.
His exhibition history includes: Garmenting: Costume as Contemporary Art at The Museum of Art and Design, New York (2022), 9th Asia Pacific Triennial of Centemporary Art (2018), Bangkok Art Biennale (2018), Dhaka Art Summit (2018), PATANI SEMASA, MAIIAM Contemporary Art Museum (2017); DISPLACED, Bangkok Art and Culture Centre, Bangkok, Thailand (2017); First Look: Collecting Contemporary at the Asian, Asian Art Museum, San Francisco; Transient Shelter (2015); Viewpoints and Viewing Points – the 2009 Asian Art Biennial, National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts (2009); and ArtPosition, Murten, Switzerland (2005); among others. His work is included in the collections of the Singapore Art Museum; Asian Civilization Museum, Singapore; Queensland Gallery of Art / Gallery of Modern Art, National Taiwan Museum of Fine Art; Asian Art Museum of San Francisco; the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, USA; and the Vehbi Koc Foundation, Istanbul, FENIX, Rotterdam, Netherlands. The Centre for Heritage, Arts and Textiles ( CHAT/The Mills ) will present his first major survey in November 2023.
Jakkai Siributr
