Tada Hengsapkul
APT9
Born 1987 Korat, Thailand
Lives and works in Bangkok, Thailand
Whether addressing the military presence in his hometown of Korat, or issues surrounding intimacy and control of the body, Tada Hengsapkul’s photographic series and moving image works are concerned with questions of freedom and social agency. In his practice, he continues his mission to expose aspects of Thai history and to unleash repression. Although his subject matter is often specific to Thailand, his work also strikes a chord in a world rife with censorship. He often employs a strategy of visually overwhelming his audiences in order to encourage them to analyse what they see. Hengsapkul first came to the attention of the art world with his photographs of young people — often his friends — whose documentary-style exposure raised issues of vulnerability, confrontation and the power of the individual. He is familiar with environments that censor expression, and his works explore ways in which art can respond to power.
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Tada Hengsapkul / Thailand b.1987 / You lead me down, to the ocean (detail) 2018 / Two-channel video, 12 minutes; two single-channel video, 6:30 and 3 minutes, artist book / © Tada Hengsapkul / Image courtesy: The artist / Photograph: Supachai Veerayutthanon
Based in Bangkok, Tada Hengsapkul explores ideas relating to vulnerability, and questions of freedom and the social agency of the individual in his work. He is particularly interested in exposing the effects of the Thai military presence in his home of Korat, as well as in Bangkok.
Hengsapkul’s installation You lead me down, to the ocean 2018 shows underwater scenes of tanks that were acquired by the Thai Army for use in the border dispute with Cambodia. This dispute, which began in 2008, centred on the Hindu-Buddhist temple Preah Vihear (or Prasat Khao Phra Wihan in Thai). These tanks were subsequently scrapped to create an artificial reef, located in the sea off the Narathiwat Province in southern Thailand, for the tourism market. Shown together with extracts from found letters between a Thai soldier fighting in Vietnam in the late 1960s and his loving wife, and a publication made in the tradition of photobooks, Hengsapkul’s video installation invites reflection on the complex role of the military in his country. Moreover, the work reveals universal resonances in the artist’s ongoing hope for the development of greater social consciousness by the people of Thailand and the world.
