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Nitaya Ueareeworakul is an artist whose work and life
have been sculpted by whatever habitat or situations she has thrown herself
into. But the artistic fruits are less a socio-political crusade, and more
of an excavation of her soul, as she tries to unearth her immediate role
within the dramatic modernisation of Asian civilisation.
In
the decade that spans her career to date, she has been prolific. She can
boast of having had eight solo exhibitions in Thailand interspersed with
group hangings and workshops in France, Australia, Singapore, Vietnam,
Korea, Austria, Kenya and Japan. A BFA graduate from Chulalongkorn
University, the artist is also one of the founding organisers of the annual
Womanifesto event.
Nitaya’s work from the early nineties has a
certain crudity, and is heavily stylised when compared to later
undertakings. The fundamental elements that have remained throughout her
development are present, but more fragmented. Over the years, her art
has gradually gained subtlety, her themes gelling with
greater sophistication. Furthermore, the pieces evolve from, and have more
connection with, the chosen medium of experimentation, as exemplified by the
four-piece, mixed-media painting Naked I-IV.
Nitaya was one of the principal organisers of Studio Xang, which
aimed to introduce more liberal art practices to Thai youth through teaching
and workshops. Xang also promoted art to the masses through
community-based projects like Womanifesto I and II (1998-9), which
were successful international exposes of female art held in one of Bangkok’s
parks. The provocative title enforced a particular sexual agenda with
several artists in attendance expressing definite political overtones, but
to Nitaya, Womanifesto was more about building friendships with
females from other nationalities - an exciting opportunity for communicating
through collaborations.
This notion was taken an ambitious step
further in Womanifesto Workshop 2001, when an upcountry farm owned by
artist Maitree Parahom became the setting for a 10-day commune for female
artists from around the globe. The event also encouraged greater interaction
among young female creators in Thailand, who Nitaya feels are still
reluctant to make their voices heard.
With a desire to flee the constraints and
distractions of Bangkok and focus on the project from a grassroots level,
and with the skills employed by rural craftspeople rapidly disappearing in
the shadow of modernisation, the workshop also tried to express the
importance of keeping these methods alive.
From
Body and Mind (1997) through to Naked 94-99 her work reflects
dissatisfaction and even melancholy, contributed by personal factors and
possibly her role as a woman and artist in patriarchal Thai society. By
embarking upon art-related expeditions to foreign shores, Nitaya found a way
to escape herself physically, spiritually and artistically. Removed from the
familiar, her work gained a freshness, depth and distinction that might not
have been reached while in Thailand.
The two
months that she spent in Kenya during 1999 were a real liberalising force:
It was the first time she really felt unified with nature. The vast, rugged
African landscapes made a profound impression, providing the pivotal point
for her to start making art directly concerning the environment and her
interaction with it. (In the past, Nitaya had flirted with nature as subject
matter through site-specific installations like Journey of the Lotus
produced on a 1998 exchange trip to South Korea and in Australia in '97, but
these were mere flirtations. Upon returning to Bangkok, her work quickly
became coloured once more by urban issues.)
The
culmination of the Kenyan experience was the 1999 group exhibit A Step in
Africa held at the Kenyan National Museum. Around then, she also erected
a permanent series of metallic sculptures in Nairobi’s Jee Van Jee Garden
Public Park. Standing Beauties comprises five, life-size seated human
figures, which have been moulded into functional public seats; their dark
silhouetted forms are pierced with light-filtering holes.
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This piercing was inspired by Kenyan decorative tribal jewellery; it has
become a predominant technique in her work. “These people survive in mud
huts, and cultivate the arid land. Living in inhospitable conditions with
little or no education, yet through their distinctive culture they create
such artistic objects of beauty. It instilled a massive respect in me,
stressing the importance of general human values, not judging a person by
colour, nationality, religion or education, and breaking down the partitions
between people.” Hence, the piercings are a metaphor for penetrating these
barriers, while simultaneously representing the pathway between the earthly
and divine realms.
Nitaya maintained these tribal and environmental motifs in her solo
exhibition Parallelism. The atmospheric show was clear evidence that
her progression is not limited to conceptual growth; there is also an
expansion in the use of media with a leap away from flat two-dimensional
surfaces in a “refusal of the canvas”. Instead, she has concentrated on
recycling her own paper, enjoying the texture and experimenting with
installation. This work has an intentional edge of eco-awareness, an issue
Nitaya touched upon in the 1999 sculptural installation Being and Beyond.
Once again it was an attempt to move from flat surfaces by using wire gauze
and brightly coloured, recycled plastic bags to construct five, headless
angels. The intended mood is that of humanity lost, spiritually and
physically.
The
emblems in Parallelism’s meticulous creations take a new twist in the
12-piece composition Sacred View. To Western eyes this work may
initially appear morbid - the coarse black surfaces stabbed by a menacing
bed of thorns are reminiscent of the crucifixion. This slant is further
enforced when Nitaya explains that the thorns come from the thriving African
Yellow Fever Tree, once superstitiously believed to cause the fatal illness.
Conversely, the message is ultimately one of humanity’s struggle for
survival. “These trees litter the harsh landscape, and their spikes are a
defence mechanism. To me it reiterated the plight of the tribal people and
how they endure the elements. Their relationship with nature isn’t always
harmonious. Often it involves suffering,” Nitaya says.
In
the past year or so, her life has undergone a dramatic transformation.
Marriage, a newborn child, and relocating to her native province of
Udonthani have all helped to fulfil her utopian dream of creating art away
from urban confines. Ironically, the first work to emerge from her migration
has a distinctly urban sheen. For the 2003 exhibition Human Habits at
Chulalongkorn University, Nitaya presented an installation of several,
curiously customised, home-furnishing creations that question the
increasingly selfish ethics of contemporary Thais.
With other works like Who I Am and The Self, her concerns have
echoes of universal resonance as she mocks the narcissism, greed, hypocrisy,
consumption and crassness prevalent in Thailand today. The fragility and
potential destruction of belief in such ‘values’ is highlighted in
Success (2003), a precarious piece made out of a stack of recycled paper
suspended by wire and dangling just above a bright red, cushioned chair.
Symbolic of knowledge, the mass of paper has sharp pins protruding from the
base, which sways gently just above the cushion.
When it comes to the art of Nittaya, it’s easy to fall into the familiar
territory of discussing feminine and feminist traits, especially when she is
active in a nation that has only recently begun to appreciate its burgeoning
force of female talent. Although her oeuvre certainly has a woman's touch,
the most recent work surpasses gender stereotypes by focusing on human
behaviour. “I don’t adhere to the aggressive Western concept of feminism.
I’ve had a very gentle upbringing in Thailand. My outlook and opinions are
generally soft, so I don’t want to make art that attacks anyone,” Nitaya
reiterates.
Understanding nature’s complexities has
liberated Nitaya from previous preoccupations with culture-specific issues
like the imbalance between sexes, and religion in Thailand. This is what has
given her new work a more global perspective. Yet some of the beliefs she
incorporates from Buddhism, namely her mantra of unity and equality - with
nature, civilisation and within herself - pervade all aspects of life.
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