Penwadee Nophaket Manont was born in 1973 in California, and lives and works in Bangkok. She received an Associate’s Degree in Graphic Design from Mount San Antonio College; graduated from Assumption University with a Bachelor’s Degree in Visual Communication Arts; and took a Master’s Degree in Social and Environmental Management at the National Institute of Development Administration, Bangkok.
She commenced her curatorial practice in 2001 as an Assistant Curator at the alternative art space Project 304, later joining the curatorial team at The Jim Thompson Art Center, from 2007-2012. Her curatorial achievements include Mekong Art & Culture Project: Curatorial and Traveling Exhibition (2007-2008); the exhibition Poperomia/Golden Teardrop at the 55th Venice Biennale (2013); [R]Ejecting Mantra, a research & archive-based exhibition series reflecting on the consequences of the compulsions of nationalist ideology, myth and discourse currently impacting Thailand (2016-present); and becoming one of three curators of Biennale Jogja XV EQUATOR#5, (Yogyakarta, Indonesia, 2019).
Penwadee currently works as an Independent Art & Cultural Curator, Researcher, Activist, and Film Producer; she is Managing Director at Southeast Asia Fiction Film Lab (SEAFIC).
Altered-in-Between is a Research and Art Exhibition Project, undertaken in parallel with Minority Voicing Festival in the Deep South of Thailand (PATANI). PATANI was an independent Muslim city-state, until its defeat by Siam in 1785, and later became a vassal state. Following a tradition of resistance and a series of rebellions in response to this shift, PATANI fractured into 7 separate regions in the early 1800s. These regions would exist until the Bangkok Treaty of 1909, when the British acknowledged Thailand’s sovereignty over the 7 regions of PATANI. By 1933, Thailand had consolidated the regions and renamed them Pattani, Yala, and Narathiwat.
Today, the Malay-speaking, ethnic Malay Muslim majority in PATANI are divided from the Thais by religion and culture. The Deep South has become a failed community due to political insurgency, religious intolerance, and social and economic inequality. While the locals feel frustrated over ongoing political unrest, and the uneasiness of everyday socio-cultural conflict and suppression, they strive for humanity and human rights via both psychological and physical forces.
This project focuses on a collaborative platform between selected contemporary artists, musicians, and performers, working together with the local art and socio-cultural practitioners in PATANI. Throughout the collaboration process, this challenging initiative is expected to transmit how common people attempt to ‘voice out’ under similar oppression, and their frustrated strivings among liminality, inequality and inner migration issues.
Acknowledgement
Art & Socio-Cultural Workers/Activists:
Anas Pongprasert, Co-Founder of Saiburi Looker, Pattani, Thailand
Anis Nagasevi, Founder of The RIP, Pattani, Thailand
Anticha Sangchai, Co-Founder of Buku Books & More, Pattani, Thailand
Chaturon Iamsopha, Prof. Haji Sulong Abdulqadir Tohmeena Foundation, Pattani, Thailand
Chumsak Nararatwong, Founder of Bangnara Same Souls, Narathiwat, Thailand
Hadee Hamidong, a social activist in Pattani, Thailand
Prach Pimarnman and Keeta Isran, Founders of De' Lapae Art Space, Narathiwat, Thailand
Rasmin Nititham, Founder of Khun Laharn Local Museum, Narathiwat, Thailand
Nuriya Waji, Young Artist, Pattani and Narathiwat, Thailand
Siriporn Thongchinda, Thai Buddhist Youth-Rehabilitation Social Worker, Conservator of Chehe Dialect, Lullaby Singer and Composer, Narathiwat, Thailand