In Nam Prik Zauquna (2024), the work comprises bottles of homemade nam prik, a type of chilli paste, prepared by a community of widows from the insurgent-ridden province of Pattani in southern Thailand. Widowed due to insurgent violence, the women began producing nam prik from their home kitchens in order to rebuild their livelihoods. For this work, Phinthong commissioned the production of 1,000 bottles of nam prik to be distributed to migrant workers in Singapore as part of the food distribution programme by non-profit organisation Transient Workers Count Too (TWC2). Through the medium of homemade goods, the work exemplifies the very conditions of the informal economy—its semiotics, socioeconomic implications and cultural mythologies. By inviting the public to share and consume the work, the artist opens up a communal space in which a dialogue between the artist and audience becomes possible, and in which the various meanings of the work can begin to coalesce.

A version of this work was previously exhibited at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, San Francisco in 2015. It has been specially adapted for this exhibition and will be distributed via Singapore NGO Transient Workers Count Too (TWC2)’s food programme, The Cuff Road Food Project.

Image credits: Installation view of Pratchaya Phinthong’s ‘Nam Prik Zauquna’ (2024). Image courtesy of Singapore Art Museum.

Sacrifice depth for breadth is an installation of handmade paper and YouTube videos. Working with Chiang Mai-based papermakers specializing in the recycling of agricultural waste and animal manure into paper products, Phinthong deconstructs an abandoned hornets’ nest and recasts it into a single sheet of handmade paper. Traces of dried-up faecal matter, pupa shells, wing membranes and other fragments are embedded onto the surface of the paper pulp, presenting a literal record of nesting habits and activity. Next to the handmade paper is a QR code that directs viewers to a series of videos, hosted on YouTube, of the nest’s interior cells and chambers. To record these videos, Phinthong inserted an endoscope, an inspection instrument with an optical lens, into the nest cavity to view and record its insides. The footage captures Phinthong’s attempts at manoeuvring the device through the recesses of the wasp nest, revealing the depth and complexity of its construction. The title of this work references the material transfiguration of the nest, as the three-dimensional form is reconstituted into a wholly different entity.

This work was first exhibited at STORAGE in Bangkok in 2023.

Image credits: Installation view of Pratchaya Phinthong’s ‘Sacrifice depth for breadth’ (2023). Image courtesy of Singapore Art Museum.

Spoon (2024) is an ongoing series by Phinthong that has been made in collaboration with the villagers of Ban Napia in Xieng Khouang, northeastern Laos. In a decade-long Secret War that began in 1964, the US unleashed millions of cluster munitions in that area, making Laos the most bombed nation on earth. Nearly a third of the munitions failed to explode and remain buried across the country. Faced with a surplus of war remnants retrieved from clearance operations, Napia villagers began melting and recasting the scrap metal from unexploded ordnances, turning them into silverware to sell as souvenirs. The villagers’ process of turning a once lethal munition into functional and tradeable objects is further evolved by Phinthong, who turns the material into palm-sized, mirror-finished shapes that resemble modern design objects. The surfaces of these shapes bear traces of the earth from when they were buried, as well as the sanding and polishing required to achieve their smoothness and shine. dispersed around Singapore and free for people to take, this work reduces the public and monumental nature of unexploded ordnances into that which can be enveloped by the body, such that it can be appropriated individually.

A version of this work was previously made for sale on ‘expensive to be poor’ (expensivetobepoor.net) an e-commerce website project co-founded by Phinthong. It has been specially adapted for this exhibition and will be distributed around Singapore by the artist.

Image credits: View of Pratchaya Phinthong’s ‘Spoon’ (2024). Image courtesy of the artist.

In 2015, Phinthong travelled to Pattani in southern Thailand to meet with a community of widows whose lives were affected by ongoing insurgency in their villages. In the predominantly Muslim province where the impact of differences in cultural identity, nation state and faith on life are keenly felt, Phinthong depicts the uncertainty and tension of everyday life for the widows through a series of photographic film strips. Originally intending to photograph them, Phinthong instead invited the widows to unravel the rolls of film from their canisters, exposing them to light. The strips of darkened film with no negative images register both the presence and absence of the women as a means to underscore the contradictions of life under insurgent violence.

This work was first exhibited at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, San Francisco in 2015.

A second part to this work, Nam Prik Zauquna, will be distributed via Singapore NGO Transient Workers Count Too (TWC2)’s food programme, The Cuff Road Food Project.

Image credits: Installation view of Pratchaya Phinthong’s ‘Suasana’ (2015). Image courtesy of Singapore Art Museum.

In Undrift, Phinthong recreates a stock screensaver previously downloaded onto his personal computer by a Bangkok-based computer repair shop. Banknotes from hundreds of foreign currencies have been animated to soar and fall across the screen, their rate of movement reflecting wind speed readings gathered from meteorological stations across Singapore. These notes are from Phinthong’s personal collection, and traces of his ownership can be seen in the folds and handwriting that appear on them. Phinthong’s subtle intervention into a generic, readymade good recalls his use of commonplace materials, processes, and symbols to highlight global systems of value, labour, and exchange.

Image credits: Installation view of Pratchaya Phinthong’s ‘Undrift’ (2024). Image courtesy of Singapore Art Museum.

This photograph, taken from Udon Thani in northeastern Thailand, depicts the skies above the city, where an F-16 jet fighter can be seen crossing the sky as part of a military training exercise. The presence of these jets is part of a 15-year agreement between the Singapore and Thai governments for the provision of F-16 jet fighters in exchange for access to Thailand’s air force training facilities. Departing daily from Udon Thani’s Royal Thai Air Force base, these jets have become a recurrent feature in the city’s skyline. Engaging the help of friends living in Udon Thani, Phinthong captures the aircrafts as they appear, building a record of ongoing aviation activity and a document of air spaces as sites of navigation and ownership.

A version of this work was first exhibited at the NTU Centre for Contemporary Art Singapore Residencies Programme open studios in 2014. It has been specially adapted for this exhibition.

Image credits: Installation view of Pratchaya Phinthong’s ‘Untitled (Singapore)’ (2014). Image courtesy of Singapore Art Museum.

On loan from the Changi Chapel and Museum, Singapore, this historical artefact belonged to Private Edward Charles Hardey, a prisoner-of-war interned at Changi after the fall of Singapore. During his first visit to Singapore to prepare for the exhibition, Phinthong spent time visiting the museum, and was taken by the material qualities of the cloth. The old parachute cloth in this display is made of rayon and has a delicate, semi-sheer appearance with a soft, flowing drape. Parachute cloths made from rayon tend to have a subtle sheen, giving it a lustrous quality that catches light gently. The fabric is smooth and refined, reflecting its natural fibre base, making it prone to fraying or showing signs of wear over time.

In the late 1940s, ripstop nylon, originally developed by DuPont during WWII, began replacing rayon and silk for parachutes. Nylon’s strength, tear-resistance—thanks to the ripstop weave, lightweight properties, and water resistance made it ideal for parachute applications. By the 1950s, ripstop nylon had largely become the standard material for parachutes, setting the foundation for modern parachute manufacturing.

This artefact is on loan from the Changi Chapel and Museum, Singapore.

Image credits: Detail view of ‘Parachute cloth and shrapnel’ (Circa 1942-1945). Image courtesy of Singapore Art Museum.

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