Wantanee Siripattananuntakul

b. 1974, Bangkok, Thailand
Lives and works in Bangkok, Thailand

Grounding on social, political, economic, and cultural issues, Wantanee Siripattananuntakul’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. ‘(Dis)continuity’ (2012) reflects and reveals the irrational stipend of civil servants in developing countries. ‘Living With Uncommon Value’ (2012) and ‘The Price of Inequality’ (2015) both interpret core issues in topics of art, economic and social points of view. ‘The Broken Ladder’ (2018) delineates neglected concepts of housing as opposed to our shared view, and it questions issues surrounding the rights to occupy housed 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 reveal music as powerful propaganda.

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.

Biography information from www.wantaneesiri.com, March 2022