PYRO ANTICS

Korakrit Arunanondchai is one of the most sought-after artists of his generation by institutions and collectors alike. He tells Tatler why he believes in collaboration and empowering the collective

- Aaina Bhargava

During the pandemic, Korakrit Arunanondchai confirmed a suspicion he’d harboured for some time: he doesn’t deal well with isolation. “I can’t be alone,” the 36-year-old Thai artist admits. “In me is the inherent nature, a desire, to be and work with people.” To join a group and be a part of something is very much in, and the main motivation behind, his art.

The idea of the collective is ever present in his visualisation of gatherings. Scenes in his films range from denim-clad youth walking the streets of Bangkok to half-naked figures emerging slowly from a lake, then dancing around a fire as if performing a ritual. The latter is from his film Songs for Living (2021), which was on display in Seoul in autumn 2022 at Art Sonje as a part of his solo exhibition Songs for Living/Songs for Dying. Consisting of two films, the works are the result of the artist’s experience during the pandemic and reflect overarching themes across his practice; specifically life cycles, which he evokes by portraying animism, mythological symbols and references, lost histories, obscured memories, and notable mass protests throughout history.

Songs for Dying was the result of the artist contending with the loss of his grandfather in 2020. Clips of the older man’s final days in the hospital are interspersed with imagery of ghosts, shamans and Thailand’s 2020 mass protests. “It’s a very personal, documentary-style work: the most personal I’ve made so far”, says the artist.