Flowers Gallery London is pleased to present the work of acclaimed Thai artist Jakkai Siributr, recognised for his intricately handmade tapestries. Jakkai Siributr’s quilts and installations deliver powerful responses to contemporary and historical societal issues in Thailand. Siributr examines unofficial narratives excluded from historical Thai accounts and explores the intersections of individual and regional histories. He creates a nuanced tension between his subject matter, ongoing conflicts fuelled by nationalistic discrimination against marginalised groups, and the visual appeal of his chosen medium and materials.
Artist Talk: 9th January, 6pm, follow by reception. Dr. Iola Lenzi, author of Power, Politics and the Street: Contemporary Art in Southeast Asia after 1970 (Lund Humphries, 2024) reflects with Jakkai Siributr on his practice and approaches to materials, audiences, and social responsibility. The talk will include the recent history of Southeast Asian art linked to the social and political contexts, including innovative creative strategies, often covertly encroaching on public space, developed by regional artists to ensure the communication of sometimes provocative, even rebellious, ideas to a general audience.
Siributr’s exhibition at Flowers Gallery will also coincide with his first institutional UK exhibition, There’s No Place, taking place at The Whitworth, Manchester.
Textiles
Jakkai Siributr (b. 1969) lives and works in Bangkok, Thailand, and is one of Southeast Asia’s leading contemporary artists working primarily in the textile medium. He is known for his intricately handmade tapestries, quilts and installations, which convey powerful responses to contemporary and historical societal issues in Thailand.
In response to the COVID-19 global pandemic that emerged in 2020, Siributr created a textile series Black Death, which addresses the acts of racism and discrimination exposed by the pandemic. During this period, Siributr utilised his art to support individuals who faced job losses due to the crisis.
MM20 is assembled by stitching together uniforms gathered from service industry workers in Thailand, reflecting the artist’s sentiments towards authorities’ handling of the pandemic.
Thailand, largely dependent on tourism, experienced extended periods of economic stagnation, and the resulting widespread unemployment brought financial, physical, and psychological uncertainty. Uniforms from various tourism professions, rendered obsolete, were collected through monetary exchange as a way to assist those most economically impacted.
Siributr explains that his work focuses on unheard voices and issues that are rarely discussed, as reflected in IDP Story Cloth (International Displaced Persons). This hand-embroidered installation addresses the plight of ethnic minority groups in Myanmar who migrate to Thailand to escape conflict in their homeland. The piece pays homage to these migrants through a sensory and immersive tapestry inspired by the story cloth embroidery of the Hmong Laos people, who emigrated to the United States in the 1970s. Their story cloth often depicts scenes of village life as well as their journey to escape the conflicts in their own country.
IDP Story Cloth is currently exhibited at the 15th Gwangju Biennale at the Thailand Pavilion, until 1st December 2024.
Jakkai Siributr: There’s No Place runs at The Whitworth until 16 March 2025.
See also: West Midlands Art in 2025
