Born in 1971, Chiang Mai.
Lives and works in Fukuoka and Chiang Mai
Lost on the Farm, 2017
Small truck with wooden poster board
“Lost on the Farm” is a public art piece created by Navin Productions or Studiok, led by Navin Rawanchaikul, a Thai-Indian artist from Chiang Mai. The artwork presents its unique style through movie poster-style artwork that brings together important figures in the area to weave the relationship between people and places. This piece was created especially for the Jim Thompson Farm Tour since 2017 under the title “Kak Tae Tae Phrae I Po”, presenting the story of the loincloth and Thai society. That festival was also held to commemorate the 110th anniversary of the birth of the Thai Silk King, Jim Thompson. And to launch the song “Magic of the Pha Kao Ma” in which Nawin invited his musician friend from Chiang Mai, Wicha Thetsaduranon, the co-founder of OK Band, to perform the song along with guest singers Rasmee Verana and Jui Jui’s, creating the song based on the immortal song “Pha Kao Ma” by Khru Surin Phaksiri, a famous Thai country song composer. In addition, we invited Khru Sombat Simla, a khaen player from Maha Sarakham AKA “God of Khaen”, to join in the performance, which perfectly combined local Isan melodies with contemporary music.
Navin Rawanchaikul seeks ways to connect art with the lives of everyday people. Places of Rebirth (2009) was inspired by the artist’s journey back to his family’s homeland, the region of India that became Pakistan in 1947. Upon his return to Thailand, the artist interviewed Indian immigrants of his parent’s generation who also now live in Chiang Mai, attempting to understand their journey to Thailand and the process of making a new home there. Their stories illustrate how globalization has brought rapid and continuing change, constantly remaking geographies, impacting the people who inhabit these places, and often causing the idea of home itself to be detached from a fixed location. Navin’s art often describes his own complicated childhood, from growing up in Thailand and being perceived as an outsider to coming to terms with his Indian descent and using it as his motivation for creating art.
Text credit: https://www.thailandbiennale.org/en/artists/navin-rawanchaikul/