Tanjong Pagar Distripark
12.00 - 20.00
https://seafocus.sg
Nova Contemporary is pleased to present works by Saroot Supasuthivech and Vacharanont Sinvaravatn at S.E.A. Focus 2024. The two artists unlock voids of forgotten violence, presenting layered interrogations of local histories and omitted stories of grief and trauma. They point towards alternative readings, inviting us to reconsider the images and narratives imposed upon us.
Supasuthivech presents works from his “River Kwai” series, reconstructing a memorial for the labourers and prisoners of war who died building the Burma Railway in World War II. Employing four languages, he looks into various sites and rituals, analysing the performative futility of built memorials and contemporary commemorations. The artist creates a healing call for truth and unity, ultimately reimagining loss as a unifying spiritual reality.
Sinvaravatn similarly questions the romanticization of history, exploring the alluring idealisation of rural life and its false depictions in mainstream urban culture. While his paintings appear to depict verdant tranquillity, he conceals sinister undertones. He mirrors the historical use of pastoral imagery as political propaganda, subtly embedding a history of the Thai countryside as a site of communist contention and intense upheaval during the Cold War era.
Supasuthivech’s I Seek Refuge in the Perfect Worlds (2020) will also be included in the S.E.A. Focus screening programme, examining the ways a Muslim community living beside the Chao Praya River have responded to the rapid gentrification and modernization of Bangkok.
Saroot Supasuthivech (b. 1991, Bangkok, Thailand, where he lives and works) received his BFA in mix-media arts from Silpakorn University, Bangkok, Thailand in 2015. His debut solo exhibition was held at Nova Contemporary, Bangkok in 2023. He was included in Watch and Chill: Streaming Art to Your Homes (2021), a travelling exhibition curated by M+ in collaboration with MMCA, Seoul; MCAD, Manila; and MAIIAM Contemporary Art Museum, Chiang Mai, and has participated in group exhibitions at Nova Contemporary, Bangkok; and Gallery VER, Bangkok. In 2017, Supasuthivech was selected for the Bangkok Art and Culture Centre’s Early Years Project #2. His work is currently on view in “Passages” at the NTU Center of Contemporary Art, Singapore.
Vacharanont Sinvaravatn (b. 1997, Suphan Buri, Thailand) lives and works in Bangkok, Thailand. He received his BFA in mix-media arts from Silpakorn University, Bangkok, Thailand in 2020. His debut solo exhibition was held at SAC Gallery, Bangkok in 2023. He has been included in the St. Moritz Art Film Festival, and in group exhibitions at Art Centre Silpakorn University, Bangkok; and Jim Thompson Art Center, Bangkok. In 2023, he was selected for the Bangkok Art and Culture Centre’s Early Years Project #7. Sinvaravatn will participate in a duo exhibition at Nova Contemporary in early 2024.
