Born and raised in Songkhla, Narongyot Thongyu liked to collect trash from beaches and turn it into toys in his youth. With those childhood memories in mind, Narongyot has created a collection of hanging sculptures resembling quirky toys, each made from discarded objects such as balls, sandals, helmets and bottle caps likewise collected from beaches.
On view at Atta Gallery, the collection is part of the group exhibition "Trash: Treasure" comprising the work of seven artists -- Narongyot Thongyu, Jarupatcha Achavasmit, Sam Tho Duong, Supapong Laodheerasiri, Gi-ok Jeon, Rudee Tancharoen and Sayumi Yokouchi.
Atinuj Tantivit, founder of Atta Gallery and curator of "Trash: Treasure", explained that the exhibition is part of the Art for Air project in Chiang Mai which aims to raise awareness of air pollution and environmental issues through art exhibitions and other activities.
"People who have organised the Art for Air project realise that environmental issues are not problems for only Chiang Mai, so they wanted people in other provinces to learn about other environmental issues besides air pollution. Atta Gallery decided to present this exhibition that turns trash into art because mismanagement and burning of trash can cause air pollution. As consumers, not policy-makers, we think we should talk about trash because it is close to us," said Atinuj.
The idea of the exhibition derives from the saying "one man's trash is another man's treasure". Atinuj noted the seven artists involved agreed with the premise insofar as people have different perspectives regarding trash and treasure.
"While people think Narongyot collects trash from beaches," said Atinuj providing one example, "the artist feels like he is on a treasure hunt."
She continued: "The exhibition's slogan is 'Rethink, Reduce, Reuse And recycle', so we chose these seven artists since their art practices fit with the slogan. As a gallery, we also follow works of artists and recognise those who have created art pieces from trash and discarded items. Three international artists were also selected for the exhibition because trash pollution is a global issue," said Atinuj.
Jarupatcha, a lecturer at the Faculty of Architecture at King Mongkut's Institute of Technology Ladkrabang (KMITL), is another artist who turns trash from beaches into art pieces. For "Trash: Treasure", Jarupatcha has woven recycled PET bottles and plastic bags into a beautiful fabric titled Serenity Of Flow to remind people of the gentleness of the ocean waves.
"During the Covid-19 pandemic lockdown, I stayed in Hua Hin where I walked on beaches in the morning. The ocean has a gentle way of returning what it does not want from people by washing those items ashore. I found some discarded plastic buried in the sand. Since I wanted to help unburden the ocean, I picked up the discarded plastic and washed, dried and recycled it. Recycling means altering waste plastic at the molecular level. I use yarn from recycled plastic and weave them into a fabric. Ocean debris is not the culprit, but our waste mismanagement turns ocean debris into the culprit," said Jarupatcha.
Most of the artists featured in "Trash: Treasure" have used household waste to create their artworks. Sam Tho Duong, a Vietnamese jewellery designer based in Germany, used white yoghurt containers which had gone through cutting, punching and folding to create intriguing necklaces inspired by medieval ruffs.
Born and raised in Tokyo, Sayumi used security envelopes, which are more durable than ordinary paper, to design jewellery pieces and small sculptures. These subtle works have easily overlooked elements, yet careful inspection rewards viewers with fascinating multicoloured patterns inside the envelopes.
Supapong, a lecturer at KMITL, used wire, discarded clothes hangers, metal waste and cloth tape. Some of it is discarded household material while other pieces have been made from chains and metal pipes the artist collected from a factory.
Rudee, a contemporary jeweller, named her collection Exuviae, which is a Latin word meaning things stripped from a body. The artist noticed that she had a lot of polypropylene (PPP) plastic bags due to food delivery during the pandemic. She decided to crochet PPP bags and transform them into imaginative creatures and plants. Rudee said that because it seems we're passing on plastic trash to future generations, so wanted to improve the appearance of the material as something suitable for an inheritance.
Gi-ok, a Korean artist residing in Thailand, created her collection after cutting olive seeds in her kitchen and seeing what resembled facial expressions of screaming humans on them. She then used the seeds along with other household waste such as broken shuttlecocks, bottle caps, rusty metal baskets and racquet strings to create flower installations. The artist confessed that while working on the collection, she discovered that her family created a lot of waste at home and it was something she reflected on.
As a gallerist and curator, Atinuj admitted that the art industry itself creates much waste but that, in some cases, it is difficult to avoid.
"We cannot send art pieces to clients without bubble wrap. We cannot send reused boxes to clients. These are not appropriate. We struggle to reduce waste, but we try. We have stopped publishing invitation cards for a while now. On the opening day of 'Trash: Treasure', we did not publish and distribute the exhibition catalogue. Although for hygiene reasons we should serve bottled water, it would cause a lot of waste so we didn't serve anything. However, we did have water available if anyone asked for it. We didn't know if other people understood our intentions or just thought we were stingy," Atinuj said.
As for her inspiration as a gallerist, Atinuj was motivated to create Atta's current exhibition when she viewed "Weaving The Ocean" by Ari Bayuaji at Warin Lab last year. Ari is an Indonesian artist who collected discarded plastic ropes from beaches in Bali and wove them into beautiful clothes and fabrics.
"The artist turned trash into luxurious fabrics. Collectors who purchased those art pieces did not think that they were trash," Atinuj said.
"I think art has an impact on people and the main objective of art is to educate people, especially about environmental issues. People will never change their behaviour if they lack knowledge about the issues," said Atinuj.
"Trash: Treasure" runs at Atta Gallery, Charoen Krung 30, until March 13. Admission is free. Visit instagram.com/attagallerybkk.
