“My works stem from personal experiences so naturally whatever’s around me would seep into my works,” says leading Thai artist Pinaree Sanpitak, who I have recently interviewed for Culture360.
With a deep knowledge of materials, as well as a strong conceptual vision, her artworks address motherhood, womanhood, and a deep investigation of the self – often with references to her native Thai culture.
Here is the link to the interview
Read More
The drill is simple, yet it’s one that we can hardly keep in mind. Don’t fool with Mother Nature. And take responsibility for your behaviour towards all species. This is what the pandemic is teaching us, and what Thai artist Ruangsak Anuwatwimon has been speaking about through more than a decade of highly impactful, heartbreaking artworks.
I have interviewed the artist and the curator Loredana Pazzini-Paracciani for the show Reincarnations III – Ecologies of Life is presently showing at Warin Lab Contemporary, Bangkok. The piece is on Plural Art Mag.
Here is the link to the article
Read More
The webmagazine Cobo has just published my interview with Thai artist Jakkai Siributr. This particular conversation has really provided clarity to shed new light on the whole month-long reportage I did in Thailand at the beginning of the year.
I have found this happens every reportage. There is always one conversation that reveals a particular key to read the reality your are exploring, or throws in a few challenges and reflections that stay with me long after the field research is finished.
Often that key comes from a figure – like Jakkai in this case – who has extensive knowledge of both Eastern and Western contemporary art practices, and is able to bridge the two through the narrative of his life.
There are few others interview to go to conclude the material I have collected with this reportage in Thailand, and can’t wait to share it more with you. But for the time being…
Here is the link to the interview
Read More
A desire to find answers brought Thai artist Piyarat Piyapongwiwat from the luxurious Bangkok advertising offices to the factories of Myanmar. Today, she tackles socio-political themes through both her installations and video.
My interview with this wonderful artist, endowed with a quiet strenght, has been just published on CoBo.
Here is the link to the interview
Read More
More from my reportage on Thai contemporary. This piece, just published by CoBo, is an interview to Chiang Mai artist Torlarp Larpjaroensook, owner of Seescape Gallery. I have really great admiration for this self-made-man, and of course self-made-artist, who is all about the community.
And as a side note, I started doing this job, arts writing, more than 10 years ago now. And yet, every time an article of mine is published, I’m still so thrilled and grateful. The interviews, the chance to ask questions, the artworks, the artists, the magazines I write for and my incredible editors, the people I met, the people I traveled with, the chance to explore the world, to learn about it through its artists, the impressions, the learning, the struggles and still being here to tell tale.
I feel incredible blessed to live this life, doing this job. Hopefully some glimmer of the bliss, both mine and the one of Torlarp’s, will transpire through the lines.
Here is the link of the interview
Read More
Here is a new article from my reportage in Thailand. I’m particularly fond of this interview with one of the most gentle and strong soul I have encountered in my trip. The piece has been just published by CoBo Social.
Here is the link to the interview
Read More
It has been more than 10 years now I have started to see my articles published on magazines, and I’m still full of joy and wonder every time one is out. Especially if they are particularly satisfying conversations, like this one with none other than the great Thai artist Manit Sriwanichpoom.
The piece has just been published on CoBo Social it is also linked with the webmagazine’s current focus on Art and Politics. This article is part of my reportage on the Thai contemporary art scene I completed a month ago.
Here is the link to the interview
Read More
The first article of my Thailand reportage is out on CoBo Social. This is an interview with the incredible Chiang-Mai based artist Kamin Lertchaiprasert.
I had encountered Kamin around the world many times before actually meeting him. The first time in the form of a hyper-realistic statue with eyes closed in a meditative position. This was part of his work “No Past, No Present, No Future”, a resin-cast sculpture with human hair exhibited at the Palais the Tokyo in Paris. I stumbled into the same work at Art Stage Singapore 2018 and just a few days before driving to his studio, I saw a young version of him in some early self portraits at MAIIAM. It was still difficult to know what to expect from a conversation with him.
Here is the link to the interview
Read More
As I’m gearing up to leave for a reportage on contemporary art in Thailand in February, I’m gathering all the preliminary research in these pieces for Cobo. These encapsulate my core areas of interest (you might have read already 5 Thai Artists that Connect Us to Spirituality)
I really love to make those articles that gather artists by topic. I see them as so much more than simple listicles. I have the chance to research the practice of an artist in depth, and then distill the essence of their practice in a few paragraphs. In this way I’m also able to see how artists from the same country have different approaches to the same topic. By spotting similarities and differences, I can start grasping some sort of whole and overarching narrative.
Read More
My new article “5 Thai Artists that Connect Us to Spirituality” has just been published on CoBo Social. Some of you may know my new research scope is Thailand, and I’m planning to visit for a reportage in 2019. My previous long-form reportage have been Indonesia (2013), Australia (2014), Singapore (2015-2017) and Cambodia (2018).
So what form do these reportage take in our multimedia world of information and “liquid society” (to quote Zygmunt Bauman)? Well, the form must also be flexible. The bulk of the Indonesia research ended up in a book. My Australian reportage took the shape of a series of articles and an exhibition in Rome. The Cambodian material has also come out as articles. The Singapore research has also become a book which is the process of being published as a web-series, every Monday on this blog and on Medium. For Thailand, I’m planning to realize some videos as well. Will see how it unfolds.
To go back to “5 Thai Artists that Connect Us to Spirituality”; I love to write these kind of pieces because they allow me to look deeply into the practice of artists thematically, and then summarize the essence of their work in few paragraphs. I learn so much from doing this work, and I’m so happy to have the chance to share it with you guys!
Here is the link to the article
Read More
“In the Forest of Fontainebleau, Natee remarried the world. He stepped away for a while from the human drama that is inherent in every social interaction and accessed a much slower, much quieter world, where he was not continuously bombarded by images and input from contemporary society. This allowed Natee to focus on the smaller folds of reality. It is similar to when you concentrate on subtle variations in your breathing while meditating. If you get to apply that same heightened attention to reality, everything around you transforms and takes the form of childlike wonder at the simplest things, like the sky, a sprinkle of light and the color of moss.”
In my new piece for CoBo, I have a conversation with Thai artist Natee Utarit about his new work for his show “Untitled Poems of Théodore Rousseau” at Tang Contemporary in Bangkok.
Here is the link to the interview
Read More
You might have guessed it; alongside Cambodia, my current research is expanding towards Thailand. I first had a glimpse of the depth of at the artists from this country in the 2015 exhibition at the Palais de Tokyo in Paris, which looked at Southeast Asia. Then with the Thai focus at the last Art Stage Singapore I learned some more. I continued expanding my understanding thanks to some editing work of interviews to Thai curators and collectors. And now I’m glad to say I’m hooked!
Thanks to the wonderful curator Loredana Pazzini-Paracciani, who is a contemporary Thai art expert, I had the chance to meet Tawan Wattuya and Vasan Sitthiket in Rome. In this regards, it has been super-interesting to interview them and compare the work and perspectives of these two artists from different generations.
Here is my interview with Vasan for your friendly neighborhood magazine CoBo. I walked away from this chat with so many insights, and hopefully I managed to convey some of those to you dear reader!
Here is the link to the interview
Read More
Naima Morelli is an arts writer and journalist specialized in contemporary art from Asia-Pacific and the MENA region.
She has written for the Financial Times, Al-Jazeera, The Art Newspaper, ArtAsiaPacific, Internazionale and Il Manifesto, among others, and she is a regular contributor to Plural Art Mag, Middle East Monitor and Middle East Eye as well as writing curatorial texts for galleries.
She is the author of three books on Southeast Asian contemporary art.
Reach out: contact [at] naimamorelli.com
