NEWS/COLUMN

Support for ‘aFarm March 2024 Critics in Residence’

Our Foundation support for "aFarm March 2024 Critics in Residence", which will be held by David Willis and Blake Palmer of aFarm in Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam.

David Willis is a writer, curator and art advisor currently based in Lisbon, Portugal. He holds an MFA in Art Criticism and Writing from the School of Visual Arts and a BA in Cultural Anthropology from Columbia University. Having launched his career by working at galleries such as Gagosian and Pace in New York City, he went on to spend a decade in Vietnam and Thailand, developing a specialization in Southeast Asian contemporary art. 

 David's art writing has been published by magazines such as Art Asia Pacific (Hong Kong), Art & Market (Singapore), Vietcetera (Saigon), Heichi Magazine (Beijing), The Brooklyn Rail (NYC) and Art Basel Stories (Basel). He has also written for galleries such as Galerie Quynh, Cuc Gallery, Almine Rech Gallery and Richard Koh Fine Art. His first full length art book, Justin Lim: In Our Own Frame, was published by Richard Koh Fine Art Kuala Lumpur in 2022.

 As a curator, David has served at The Brooklyn Rail, MoT+++, Richard Koh Fine Art, and Benh Thanh Art Gallery. As an art advisor, he assisted The Nguyen Art Foundation in building the most comprehensive collection of contemporary art in Vietnam. He is currently writing a book on Natee Utarit, one of Thailand's leading contemporary painters, to be published by Richard Koh Fine Art Bangkok in 2024.

Blake Palmer is a scholar, writer, and cultural critic based in Chiang Mai, Thailand, working primarily on Asian contemporary art. His interests are drawn towards the intersection of culture, power, and art as a vector of sociopolitical critique. His academic research as a master’s student at Chiang Mai University focuses on multispecies biopolitics and indigenous foodways in the Southeast Asian context.

His recent work includes contemporary art analysis for Art Monthly Australasia, Southeast of Now: Directions in Contemporary and Modern Art in Asia, Curationist, and Art & Market, as well as multispecies ethnographic work for e-Flux Journal. He has taught as a lecturer in the Department of English at Vietnam National University (2013-2014), as well as teaching English in Seoul, South Korea (2012-2013).

He is currently working on, Bring Me Curry When I’m Gone, a book exploring food, sustainability, and Thai funeral traditions with Chiang Mai-based chef and Slow Food activist Yaowadee Chookong, and is writing a novel in the gothic tradition of the American South.