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Mimee
Thanistha Nunthapojn
creates art that is
interested in the story
of embroidery. From her
experience teaching art
at Thaksin University
for sixyears, she has
created creative
installations, medium
and large-scale
installations.
She was born in 1986 in
Phang Nga Province. She
studied art in high
school at the College
of Fine Arts, Nakhon Si
Thammarat Province. She
graduated with both a
bachelor's and
master's degree in
printmaking. She
completed a doctorate
in visual arts from the
Faculty of Painting,
Sculpture and Graphic
Arts, Silpakorn
University.
Thanistha creates works
using mixed media and
installation art
techniques through her
interest in the meaning
of materials, such as
threads, silk, or gold
thread, which convey
the bonds and ties from
the love and memories
of women in the family.
The wisdom and
knowledge about sewing,
embroidery, knitting,
weaving, and
handicrafts, which have
been passed down from
generation to
generation, inspired
her to use soft
materials or fibers to
repair objects or
connect materials that
have meaning in
memories through
women's housework
and repair culture.
Receiving awards from national art competitions and having
participated in many international exhibitions such as Silver
Medal Award, 28th Contemporary Art Exhibition for Young
Artists, Outstanding Award, 23rd "Bring Good Things to Life" Art
Competition, Excellent Award from YOUNG THAI ARTIST
AWARD 2011, she is a new generation artist who was selected by
the Contemporary Artist Creation Project 2012 to exhibit her work
in Los Angeles, Excellent Award in the 2012 Contemporary Art
Competition, Kasikorn Bank, Silver Medal Award, 58th National
Art Exhibition in the Mixed Media Category, etc. Her works have
been exhibited in various exhibitions in Thailand, Japan,
Romania, Poland, Malaysia, Taiwan, etc.
She is currently a lecturer at the Department of Visual Arts,
Graphic Arts Program, Faculty of Fine Arts, Chiang Mai
University.
JY.
Artistic Inspiration: Your work often combines contemporary
concepts with traditional techniques. Can you share more about
the sources of inspiration that drive your creative process?
TN.
Yes, as the saying goes, "Art is life." My inspiration for art
comes from things around me. Stories, experiences, memories,
and events in our lives are what influence our artistic expression.
They come from being a woman, my duties, learning, and passing
on things from women in the family (from my grandmother,
mother, aunts) through love and care. By interpreting these things
as a bond or relationship between family members, I use threads,
silk, or gold thread as important materials for my work, through
embroidery and repair techniques, which are household chores
and women's handicrafts that have passed down this wisdom
from generation to generation. With the technique of patching
torn cloth called "darning", I am also interested in the philosophy,
ideas and methods of repairing Asian pottery, such as repairing
with gold, called "kintsugi" and repairing with metal wire, called
"metal clamping" to apply to creating artwork made from cracked
ceramics. For me , the application of traditional techniques that
are in memory to my works partly because it reminds me of
stories or events in the past that I had with my family members,
making my interested in historical stories through repair that can
be linked to the context of people's thoughts, through society,
through culture at different times by making art that relies on
combining the traditional, the past and the present, and also
giving a sense of contemporariness.
JY.
Cultural influences: How does your cultural background and
personal experiences influence the themes or topics in your
artwork? Are there any specific cultural references that are
important in your work?
TN.
I believe that the influences from your cultural background
and personal experiences affect the work of every artist because
they are like the driving force, the driving force in translating
ideas into art. The main theme of my work is about repair.
Physical and mental healing using broken ceramic containers as
objects, materials, symbols that represent fragile individuals or
lives. If viewers look at my work and consider or interpret what
they see through the work, besides a container that has been
repaired and reassembled, it also includes many issues, such as
healing, femininity ,wisdom, housework, weaving, symbolic
threads that represent love, attachment, traces, blemishes that are
like wounds, mindfulness, meditation that occurs during weaving,
seeing the attempt to patch broken containers together, seeing
impermanence, decay that is the truth of nature, which is a
thought of Buddhist philosophy in the religion that the creator
believes in, etc. All of these are topics, themes, that are used as
issues in my own art work. It depends on what we want to present
or emphasize, each time what we are interested in, and then
convey those issues through thoughts, techniques, and materials
that show who we are, through our expertise in creating art in our
own style, which has been shaped and instilled from our
upbringing, from a culture that believes that women have
important responsibilities towards their family members.
JY.
Artistic challenges: What are some of the most challenging
aspects of being an artist in today's rapidly changing world? How
do you adapt or overcome these challenges?
TN.
The most challenging part of being an artist for me, I
personally think, aside from the rapidly changing world trends, is
following the world, studying, and analyzing those movements or
changes from time to time. But at the same time, maintaining
your own identity, patience and honesty in your art work are also
important. With the popularity of collecting, the convenient
application of AI technology, etc., sometimes it can be a driving
force for artists, art students, and creative people to stop working
on jobs that require skills, take time, or not follow trends, and do
not have novelty to attract attention. They want to try working on
trendy works so that the work they create will be appreciated and
turned into capital. Sticking to your own artistic approach can
sometimes or many times discourage you. Just think that
technology is developing rapidly, trends or trends change quickly,
and there are always new things emerging. As an artist, I must
always learn and develop my work, be open to changes that
happen around you at different times, along with being confident
in creating art in your own style, that you love, that you are
interested in, not following anyone's preferences or trends. It is a
kind of challenge, and at the same time, it shows the
determination of an artist who has a creative approach that is
individual and unique.
JY.
Media and Technique: You work with many different media.
How do you decide which media or technique is the most suitable
for a given piece of work? Is there a specific media that you feel
the most connected to?
TN.
Media and Technique When talking about this issue, let's
assume that the word "media" is the "material" in our art work.
The main materials that are clearly visible in the works include
ceramic containers, including small pieces from different types of
containers, fiber materials for repair such as threads, silk, hemp
fibers, and gold thread, etc. The chosen symbolic media has a
meaning of thought and feeling for the creator, such as a broken
ceramic or glass container with defects. In addition to giving
meanings of fragility, wounds, and cracks, the production process,
shape, size, color, usage characteristics, and the origin of the
container are important to the decision to select it to create the
work. For example, earthenware, glass, or ceramic containers
have different production processes in terms of firing,
temperature, strength, thickness, opacity or transparency, etc.
Planning the work from the shape, size, color, pattern, and
original usage patterns, as well as the origin of the container, has a
great impact on determining the framework for the creation and
installation of the work, such as arranging the work in pairs,
groups of containers, or installing it as a single piece, etc. Fibers
are sewn and patched in the empty areas to replace missing
container parts. Reconnecting each fractured piece to be
reattached by sewing, knitting, weaving, interlacing, tying,
weaving is the creation of meanings of integration, healing and
filling, etc. through methods or techniques. This is the implication
implied in the working technique. In terms of fibers, which are
materials that have meaning in memory, they are an important
medium that connects all the thoughts and feelings of artists like
me. Therefore, they have been compared to the relationship, the
bond of love of family members through soft, flexible, and warm
textures. This is the implication implied in the media or materials.
The interpretation of the symbolic meaning that occurs when the
techniques and materials are assembled together to form a
finished piece of work, in line with the purpose of creation. Artists
use media and techniques to connect their own thoughts and
feelings by conveying the abstract to be tangible through works
that act as a medium, connecting the understanding between
artists and viewers of art.
JY.
Future projects: What are your future projects or artistic
goals? How do you see your artistic journey developing in the
next few years?
TN.
The goals of the path of making art from now on, there are
many more plans that I want to do, which occur during each
work. It is similar to when we drive with a destination in mind,
but along the way we come across a beautiful and interesting
place. I think I have to come back and explore this place. It's the
fun of traveling on the artistic path I choose. we learn to create art
through our lives. As our lives continue, learning is endless,
absorbing inspiration for our work through things around us,
through our feelings towards them. If you ask whether I will
continue to work on sewing and repairing in the future, the
answer is that we will probably continue to do so, but we may
develop the form of our work or the use of materials by applying
it together with traditional techniques and methods that we have
learned from further research. Our work may develop from just
repairing containers to repairing areas with historical events or
stories that we feel like going back to fix and restore, repairing
empty spaces, knitting in the air, etc. With the possibilities from
techniques and methods, the meaning of repair work, and the
power of being a woman, it creates endless challenges and
wonders for making art. No matter how many years in the future
or decades from now, as long as I can still make art, I will
continue to do what we love.
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