Apichaya Wanthiang 

Apichaya Wanthiang's exhibition January 2567 encompasses installation, video and painting. A central video work is projected on an installation of textiles and takes us to Ban Tow Hai, a rural village in north-east of Thailand where the artist originates. In nocturnal scenes, the light emerges as the work's main protagonist: it leads our gaze, emphasises hands and their movements and shapes the course of the image. The palmyra palm leaves that appear in the video also serve as the point of departure for a number of larger site-specific works that occupy three of the exhibition rooms. In the paintings, nocturnal landscapes recur, where the vegetation seems to bear traces of human presence without any figures being visible. The motifs are characterised by dark, dense fields of colour, and the images balance between stillness and something that seems to rest beneath the surface.

In her artistic practice, Apichaya Wanthiang examines how our perception is altered when sight is not the primary sense. Using darkness, light, textile materials and spatial displacement, she creates immersive environments in which the body is activated and orientation occurs more intuitively than visually. Rather than portraying a motif or narrative, she employs rhythm, texture and mood, leaving room for the viewer's own associations.

Apichaya Wanthiang was born in 1987 in Bangkok and is currently based in Norway. Over recent years, she has established herself as a significant voice within the Nordic contemporary art scene, with solo exhibitions at institutions including MUNCH and the Vigeland Museum. The exhibition at Artipelag marks Wanthiang's first solo exhibition in Sweden.

The presentation is produced by the artist herself in dialogue with Artipelag's art department and can be seen in relation to Fredrik Wretman’s solo exhibition, which takes place during the same period.