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Wantanee

Artist's statement

Grounding on social, political, economic, and cultural issues as critical views relates, Wantanee's artworks touch upon questions about the meaning of life. Each project often consists of different media such as videos, sound, sculptures, and installations, associating social and economic inequality and ideological state apparatus.

Since 2012, her approaches to art have primarily concerned economics and political issues with her very own life and experience; they investigate what is at stake in our society. In "(Dis)continuity (2012)", the work reflects and reveals the irrational stipend of civil servants in developing countries. In "Living with Uncommon Value" (2012) and "The Price of Inequality" (2015), both works interpret core issues in topics of 'art, economic and social point of view.' These projects revolve around the overwhelming and fragile circumstances that affect the world and living conditions. "The Broken Ladder" (2018) delineates neglected concepts of housing as opposed to our shared view, and it questions issues surrounding the rights to occupy house property and the precarious possession of the estate.

Political beliefs and ideologies have often been paired together in various political contexts and cultures to deliver a specific political message. Wantanee applied propaganda music to demonstrate the political conflicts in "Songs without lyrics" (2015-2017), a series of three video installations that reveals music's power as powerful propaganda with three different songs accompanying the series.



Meanwhile, Wantanee has started working with "Beuys" (African Grey Parrot) since September 2013. Time and activities are the essential research tools for the project. In the first phase of the process, during 2013-2019, different approaches have been employed. She has proposed a variety of activities to play with "Beuys" by referring to "Joseph Beuys' art projects," in which the results have shown in the form of video art, photo, and object.



However, since 2018 which Wantanee started to leaving Joseph Beuys as the point of reference to her body of works behind to live and learn closely from Beuys (parrot) and her daily activities, as well as her interest begins to engage on the history of African grey parrot and different kind of animals or other creature. Wantanee hopes that these processes will bring her new perspectives to better understand the other beings by focusing on things around herself, Beuys, and other species.



At the same time, she started to explore soundscape during the pandemic lockdown and political crisis in the forms of moving images and audio. The anomaly aroused her to listen and try to decipher them. For example, "Sawa" (2020), "The monologue paradox" (2020), "Bangkok wall" (2020), "13:04" (2021), and "The exhausting dance" (2021) reflect how people, plants, and animals react to the changing environment and political situation and how do they shape our emotions and perceptions.



Each subject and each piece of work determines the materials to be used and their form. During research and production, new areas of interest arise and lead to the next piece of work. As an artist, it is crucial for Wantanee to balance between the inevitable social influence, social criticism, the others, and herself.




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