Bright colours support the backdrop of Kawita’s twisted and curled body, baring the weight of human consumption and selfish behaviour. Deliberately chosen to mimic supermarket colours to entice buyers, these colours play a communicative role as important as the actions captured in Kawita’s work.
The artist, Kawita Vatanaiyankur, is recognised for her video and performance work since her Tools Series from 2012. Merging her own body into domestic appliances, together she uses her form and total being to sculpture a representation of the female endurance.
She continues her work by exploring similar themes, allowing different objects to direct her body and also using her body to manipulate the object in return. This relationship as explored through Kawita’s work directly addresses the limits of the human condition, both physically and mentally.
Labour as a subject has been a recurring field of research for the artist, particularly in the idea of machinery and repetitive action. Her body as a machine, the artist performs a focused singular actions in a loop. Each sole movement, expands the performance into multiple layers of social issues, engaging with the audience to spark discussions about the women’s rights, the labour industry, the wheel of dharma and the human tenacity for example.
With each piece, Kawita plans, designs and shoots her performance herself with the help of her mother and house keeper. Every piece requires Kawita to ultimately survive the shoot as she performs them, often times to the point of collapsing. To which the artist has commented on this experience as like becoming an object pushed to its limit like in her Performing Textiles (2018-2019) series.
2018 The Balancing Act (Curated by Antidote), Sydney Opera House, Sydney, Australia
2018 Kawita Vatanajyankur (as part of the book launch), Anantara Hotel, Bangkok, Thailand
2018 Performing Textiles (Part II), Alcaston Gallery, Melbourne, Australia
2018 The Scale of Justice, Adelaide Festival Centre, Adelaide, Australia
2018 Performing Textiles, Dunedin Public Art Gallery, Dunedin, New Zealand
2018 Squeezers, Flint Institute of Arts: Fleckenstein Video Gallery, Michigan, USA
2018 The Scale 2, Flint Institute of Arts: Fleckenstein Video Gallery, Michigan, USA
2018 Kawita Vatanajyankur, Kuiper Project, Brisbane, Australia
2017 Splashed, Nova Contemporary, Bangkok, Thailand
2016 Work, Clear Edition & Gallery, Tokyo, Japan
2016 Machinized, Stills Gallery, Sydney, Australia
2015 Tools, The Jam Factory, Bangkok, Thailand
2015 The Carrying Pole, Screen Space, Melbourne, Australia
2015 Work, Stills Gallery, Sydney, Australia
2014 Play, Beam Contemporary, Melbourne, Australia
2014 The Ice Shaver, Sencus Luoghi per l’Arte Contemporanea, Florence, Italy
2013 The Ice Shaver, Centre for Contemporary Photography (CCP), Melbourne, Australia
2013 Tools, Beam Contemporary, Melbourne, Australia
2012 Domesticated, Trocadero Art Space, Melbourne, Australia
2012 Body and Elements, Seventh Gallery, Melbourne, Australia
2011 Walking on Water, First Site Gallery, Melbourne, Australia
Selected Group Exhibitions
2024 Everyday Practices, Singapore Art Museum, Singapore 2024 Liquidscape: Southeast Asia Today, Arts Maebashi, Maebashi, Japan 2024 Indonesia Bertutur, Ubud, Bali, Indonesia 2024 The Spirits of Maritime Crossing, an official collateral exhibition of the Venice Biennale, Venice, Italy 2024 Can’t Help but Love Her, Suwon Museum of Art, Seoul, Korea 2024 The 11th Asia Pacific Triennale, Brisbane, Australia 2024 Chronic Compulsions: Selected Works from Art Addicts Anonymous, The Private Museum, Singapore 2024 The Managed Heart: Art and Emotional Labour, NTU ADM Gallery, Singapore 2024 She’s a Knockout: Sport, Gender, and the Body in Contemporary Art, Lowe Art Museum, Miami, USA 2023 Living an Artist’s Life, MadeIn Art Museum, Shanghai, China 2023 Dasein: Born to be Human, JUT Art Museum, Taipei, Taiwan 2023 Table Manners, Appetite, Singapore 2022 Uncanny Encounters, Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA) Busan, Busan, Korea 2022 The Bangkok Art Biennale, Bangkok Arts and Culture Centre (BACC) and Central World, Bangkok, Thailand 2022 Fun Feminism, Kunstmuseum Basel, Basel, Switzerland 2022 Balance, Hamburger Bahnhof, Berlin, Germany 2022 No False Idols, 4A Centre for Contemporary Asian Art, Sydney, Australia 2022 #empowerment. Planetary Feminisms in Art, Kunstmuseum Wolfsburg, Wolfsburg, Germany 2022 Invisible Labor, ArtYard, New Jersey, USA 2022 Antidote Solo Booth, Melbourne Art Fair 2022, Melbourne, Australia 2021 Nation, Narration, Narcosis: Collecting Entanglements & Embodied Histories, Hamburger Bahnhof, Berlin, Germany 2021 Errata: Collecting Entanglements & Embodied Histories, Maiiam Contemporary Art Museum, Chiang Mai, Thailand 2021 18th Edition of the Photaumnales Festival, Centre d’art de Beauvais, Beauvais, France 2021 Watch and Chill, National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art (MMCA), Gwacheon, Korea 2021 Watch and Chill, Maiiam Contemporary Art Museum, Chiang Mai, Thailand 2021 Watch and Chill, Museum of Contemporary Art and Design (MCAD), Manila, Philippines 2021 Watch and Chill, the M+ West Kowloon Cultural District, Hong Kong 2021 OzAsia Festival, Adelaide Festival Centre, Adelaide, Australia 2021 Time-lapse Reflecting on Thai Art, 333 Anywhere, Bangkok, Thailand 2021 Art for Air, Maiiam Contemporary Art Museum and Gallery See Scape, Chiang Mai, Thailand 2021 S.E.A Focus, Singapore 2021 Fertile Ground, Centre for Contemporary Photography, Melbourne, Australia 2021 Auckland Arts Festival, Auckland, New Zealand 2021 RGB, Latrobe Regional Gallery, Melbourne, Australia 2020-2021 Stories Across Rising Lands’, Museum MACAN, Jakarta, Indonesia 2020 Bodied, Art Gallery of Western Australia, Perth, Australia 2020 14th Busan International Video Art Festival, Space Heem, Busan, Korea 2020 Exposing the Limits, Wavepool Gallery, Ohio, USA 2020 The Foot Beneath The Flower, NTU ADM Gallery (Nanyang Technological University), Singapore 2020 RGB: A Selection of Recent Video Art, Latrobe Regional Gallery, Gippsland, Australia 2020 No Frontiers: What Happens in Bangkok Does Not Stay in Bangkok, Galerie Arnaud Lebecq, Paris, France 2020 Don’t Let Yourself Go (Digital Project), Cement Fondu (commission), Sydney, Australia 2020 Power Play, The Art House, Singapore 2020 The Winter Night Screen (Digital Exhibition), Counihan Gallery, Melbourne, Australia 2020 In Her Words: The Scale of Justice, Horsham Regional Gallery (Online), Horsham, Australia 2020 Aurora Picture Show (Satellite), Aurora Picture Show Digital Program, Houston, Texas, USA 2020 Unconstrained Textiles: Stitching Methods, Crossing Ideas, Centre for Heritage Arts and Textiles, Hong Kong 2020 Additions + Alterations, Dunedin Public Art Gallery, Dunedin, New Zealand 2019 Hidden Bar, Art Basel Switzerland, Basel, Switzerland 2019 Conversation Starters 2019: Temperature Rising (Event), Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney, Australia 2019 Pioneer in Video Art from Thailand, Slovenia, Norway since 1980 Exhibition, Bangkok Arts and Culture Centre (BACC), Bangkok, Thailand 2019 Pursuit of Self, Cinema COBRA, Brooklyn, New York 2019 Culture Summit Abu Dhabi 2019, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates 2019 Bruised: Art Action and Ecology in Asia, RMIT Gallery, Melbourne, Australia 2019 Here be Dragons 1/3: Because We’re Worth It, Centre d’art de la Maison Populaire, France 2019 In her Words, Horsham Regional Art Gallery, Horsham, Victoria, Australia 2018 The Salamander Devours its Tail Twice, Gallery 46, London, United Kingdom 2018 Video Art in Focus presented by Cobo Social, Asia Now Paris, Paris, France 2018 Absurdity in Paradise, Kasseler Kunstverein, Fridericianum Museum, Kassel, Germany 2018 Video Contemporary, Sydney Contemporary Art Fair, Carriageworks, Sydney, Australia 2018 ART FORMOSA, Shongshan Cultural and Creative Park, Taipei, Taiwan 2018 Blindside-B Side, Blindside, Melbourne, Australia 2018 Next Wave X Melbourne University, Melbourne University, Melbourne, Australia 2018 Under the Sun: Reimagining Max Dupain’s Sunbaker (Presented by Australian Centre for Photography), Gosford Regional Gallery, Gosford, Australia 2018 Chaos & Order: 120 Years of Collecting at RMIT, RMIT Gallery, Melbourne, Australia 2018 Beyond Bliss, Bangkok Art Biennale 2018, Bangkok, Thailand 2018 Traverse Vidéo Festival, Toulouse, France 2018 Spring Break Art Show, New York, USA 2018 MeCA l Media Culture in Asia: A Transnational Platform curated by Japan Foundation Asia Center, Laforet Museum Harajuku, Tokyo, Japan 2018 Extraordinary Meetings, Small Compendium of Oriental Art, Census Foundation, Florence, Italy 2017 Watch Me Now, The Culture Club, Brooklyn, New York, USA 2017 Stamina, Secret Dungeon, Brooklyn, New York, USA 2017 Islands on the Stream: Alamak!, Alongside 57th Venice Biennale, Venice, Italy 2017 Blindside-B Side, Blindside Gallery, Melbourne, Australia 2017 ARTBAR, Museum of Contemporary Art (MCA), Sydney, Australia 2017-2018 Negotiating the Future, Asian Art Biennial 2017, National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts, Taipei, Taiwan 2017 Curtain Call, Stills Gallery, Sydney, Australia 2017 Hotel Art Fair, Volve Hotel, Bangkok, Thailand 2017 Art Jakarta, Jarkarta, Indonesia 2017 An Act of Showing (Blindside project), Testing Grounds, Melbourne, Australia 2017 Art Blocks: Aurora Picture Show, Houston, Texas, USA 2017 CCP 2017 Fundraiser, Centre for Contemporary Photography, Melbourne, Australia 2017 Kitchen Studio, Black Box Projects: May Space, Sydney, Australia 2017 ASIATOPA (Asia Triennale of Performing Arts) Festival, State Theatre Stage: Arts Centre Melbourne, Melbourne, Australia 2017 Body and Cloth: Performing Textiles, ASIATOPA Festival, Australian Tapestry Workshop, Melbourne, Australia 2017 Under the Sun: Reimagining Max Dupain’s Sunbaker, Australian Centre for Photography (ACP), NSW, Australia 2017 Anthropocene ( Curated by Antidote), AirSpace Projects, Sydney, Australia 2016 You are not Alone, Oi! Art Space, Hong Kong 2016 30th Anniversary of CCP Fundraiser, Centre for Contemporary Photography, Melbourne, Australia 2016 The Melbourne City Art Loop, Melbourne Central, Melbourne, Australia 2016 PLAY2, Federation Square Big Screen, Melbourne, Australia 2016 Dirty Dozen, Melbourne City Council, Melbourne, Australia 2016 Ever Fresh, Stills Gallery, Sydney, Australia 2016 Thailand Eye, Bangkok Arts and Culture Centre, Bangkok, Thailand 2016 Video Video, Campbelltown Arts Centre, Campbelltown, NSW, Australia 2016 Cornucopia, Shepparton Art Museum (SAM), Shepparton, Australia 2015 Thailand Eye, Saatchi Gallery, London, United Kingdom 2015 Feast, Stills Gallery, Sydney, Australia 2015 Art Normal (In collaboration with Duangrit Bunnag), Rachaburi, Thailand 2015 Jaguar Asia Tech Art Prize Finalists Exhibition, World Trade Center, Taipei, Taiwan 2015 15 Artists, Redcliffe City Art Gallery, Caboolture, Australia 2015 Sydney Contemporary Art Fair 2015, Carriageworks, Sydney, Australia 2015 La Movida, Biblioteca Municipal de Barranco, Lima, Peru 2015 With Her Feet off the Ground, Counihan Gallery, Brunswick, Australia 2014 Subjectify Me, Feltspace, Adelaide, Australia 2014 Season 14, Stills Gallery, Sydney, Australia 2014 Play, Blindside Online Video Space, Melbourne, Australia 2014 Melbourne Art Fair 2014 (Stills Gallery Stand), Royal Exhibition Building, Melbourne, Australia 2014 MAF Video, Melbourne Art Fair 2014, Royal Exhibition Building, Melbourne, Australia 2014 Melbourne Art Fair 2014 (off-site), Chin Chin Wall of Art, Melbourne, Australia 2014 The Museum of Abject Sentimentality, RMIT School of Art Gallery, Melbourne, Australia 2014 P ROX IMITY: An art exhibition of distance and relativity (As part of Bangkok Art and Culture Centre’s exhibition), National Museum, Szczecin, Poland 2014 Totally Looks Like, Stills Gallery, Sydney, Australia 2014 New Grand Narrative (Next Wave Festival 2014), Testing Ground, Melbourne, Australia 2014 Rooftop Transmissions (As part of the National Gallery of Victoria’s Melbourne Now Exhibition), Rooftop Cinema, Melbourne, Australia 2013 BorderBody: International Art Festival of Photography, Video Art, Painting and Performing Art, MECA Mediterráneo Centro Artístico, Almeria, Spain 2013 BorderBody: International Art Festival of Photography, Video Art, Painting and Performing Art, Gallery MD_S (miejsce dla sztuki), Wrocław, Poland 2013 Ikono On Air Festival, Ikono TV, Berlin, Germany 2013 Channels : The Australian Video Art Festival, Federation Square (Big Screen), Melbourne, Australia 2013 ll Palazzo Enciclopedico (The Encyclopedic Palace): Melbourne Offsite for the 55th Venice Biennale, Platform Contemporary Art Space, Melbourne, Australia 2013 Hua Krathi Project, Federation Square, Melbourne, Australia 2011 Pop-up Migrants, The Tinder Box Studio, Melbourne, Australia 2011 Graduate Painting Exhibition, RMIT University, Melbourne, Australia
Residency
2019 Research Residency, The Peninsula Bangkok Hotel, Bangkok, Thailand
2017 Research Residency, Dunedin Public Art Gallery, Dunedin, New Zealand
Selected Prize and Awards
2019 Generation T Asia 2019, Art Category, Thailand Tatler / Asia Tatler
2018 Winner of Art Category in Perspective 40 Under 40 Award 2018
(Perspective Magazine, Hong Kong)
2016 Winner of Young Alumni Community Engagement Award 2016
