Mariem-Thidarat Chantachua’S ‘Invisible Town’: Explores the Environmental Struggles of a Hidden Bangkok Community Where Residents Seek Escape, While Outsiders Remain Unaware.

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Mariem Thidarat Chantachua is undoubtedly a rising contemporary artist in Thailand, gaining prominence in recent years. Her signature style: bright, star-shaped embroidery threads woven into geometric shapes, religious symbols, Islamic architecture, and depictions of rituals. These captivating works are both distinctive and memorable.

If you're unfamiliar with this acclaimed Muslim artist, her latest exhibition, "Invisible Town" at SAC Gallery, offers a perfect introduction. Immerse yourself in her life story through her art. However, if you're already familiar with her predominantly religious-themed works, "Invisible Town" presents a refreshing departure. This exhibition embarks on a journey through her lifelong neighborhood, an area characterized by its numerous garbage dumps. Chantachua calls this a "hidden town", unseen and unwanted by both residents and outsiders.

The conversation begins on the second floor of SAC Gallery. Here, Mariem brings her "Invisible Town", complete with its suburban pollution, into the heart of Thailand's bustling economic district, itself struggling with persistent PM2.5 dust.

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"People often assume being Muslim gives me an exotic cultural background. But the truth is, I was born and raised in a family rooted in Bangkok. In reality, the background of being a lower-class and my struggling life are much clearer than my religion." Mariem reminisces about her childhood, which wasn't glamorous. There were no twinkling stars in the sky like her artworks, not even a bit.

 "The alley where I live is unknown to most, and even if they know, they don't want to enter. Few people inside have a chance to move out because we are lower-class. We have to struggle and fend for ourselves to live elsewhere." Reflecting deeply on matters that arose both before and during the COVID-19 outbreak, she realized she had been unknowingly living with the environmental issues currently concerning society. Lockdown restrictions revealed this to her, as her younger age and limited knowledge had previously prevented her from recognizing them.

"Looking back, I realize I've been living amidst pollution since I was young, oblivious to it due to a lack of education. The media and our country simply weren't concerned with the issue. This was compounded by the fact that I grew up in a marginalized community among the lower class, where environmental concerns seemed to fall on deaf ears. This was the invisible town - unwanted and ignored by the outside world."

 

Mariem draws inspiration for her new artwork from the plight of the underprivileged. It serves as a powerful voice for these communities, addressing the environmental issues they've long faced and advocating for lasting solutions. The exhibition itself is a unique blend of framed canvas art and installation art, immersing viewers in the atmosphere of the community where Mariem was born and raised.

Beyond the shift in subject matter from her previous works, the materials and colors she uses now represent a further transformation in Mariem's artistic approach.

"This series stands out because I've dared to experiment with materials. My previous works were primarily black and white, which could be instantly impressive, but here I've chosen muted colors that demand closer attention. The tightly stitched threads may appear like simple embroidery from afar, but they burst with intricate details upon closer inspection. This reflects the subtle voices of the people who live in this community." While exploring new territory, she ensures her signature blend of Islamic motifs and embroidery continues to resonate.

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"An eviction is planned for the time I chose to capture. What worries me most are my memories. I'm trying to preserve them before they become altered in the future. The government's development plans might erase these things completely."

Drawing inspiration from her surroundings, Mariem paints landscapes of the alleys - houses, incinerators, car graveyards, and factories - using oil paints. These scenes are framed in rustic hues and adorned with intricate embroidery. To evoke the polluted skies choked with dust, she incorporates a tie-dye technique into the canvas. The artwork serves as a snapshot of these disappearing sights, preserving them before they vanish entirely.

"These colors mirror the shades seen during Bangkok's smog periods," she explains, gesturing towards the artwork. "They create a deceptive beauty, masking the harsh reality. In contrast to my usual black fabrics, this piece emphasizes my embroidery skills, their softness and beauty juxtaposed against unsettling imagery."

Mariem goes beyond solely focusing on the community's internal problems. Instead, she guides us towards a broader perspective, prompting us to reflect on how these same issues of pollution resonate within the larger society, where similar struggles exist.

"The exhibition features a series titled "Smog Town", showcasing images of buildings, people walking, and Islamic art motifs. This title reflects the dust-laden environment that permeates these lives. Focusing on urban smog, the artwork depicts buildings from various parts of the city, including mosques, commercial structures, and people from diverse backgrounds."

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The exhibition space itself doubles as an experiment in Mariem's new artistic direction. Expanding beyond traditional painting techniques, she has designed an immersive installation simulating an "invisible town". Three large-scale city walls, densely packed with diverse types of garbage, convey the living conditions of people in her hometown forced to adapt to the constant presence of waste. Whether used for construction or decoration, this reality has been woven into Mariem's life since childhood.

Due to their limited means, some residents don't have proper fences, resorting to welding scavenged old metal bars into makeshift barriers. These materials – bent bars and wire – are what many families, including mine, often use at home. Some family members even collect and sell scrap metal, like used cans, contributing to the materials seen in these makeshift fences.

The artworks hanging on the wall have a similar concept to the walls that tell the story of living amidst garbage. She designs them to be windows by using bent metal bars as frames filled with various types of garbage, such as milk cartons, old canvas, and cable clips. She paints the windows with vibrant and eye-catching color tones. The choice of colors for each window comes from the color tones of foreign artists she admires, such as Pablo Ruiz Picasso, Johan Vermeer, Vincent Van Gogh, and Norman Rockwell.

"Living amidst these difficulties doesn't diminish our hopes and the figures we look up to", she shares with a smile.

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The dreams of each art student may vary, but there might be some common ground, which is to become well-known, win awards from competitions, exhibit artworks in renowned galleries, sell artwork to fund further creations, and travel along the prestigious path of being an artist, not only within their home countries, but also becoming recognized internationally.

However, there isn't just one art school, and each produces a large number of graduates every year. This means they are all competitors. This is the reality of the art world that a high school girl who starts studying in the science-math program and discovers a love for drawing through Japanese cartoons like her must face.

After graduation, an opportunity arose for her to explore the world. Visiting different countries, interacting with people she had never met before, and working as an artist residency in Japan, as well as exhibiting and viewing artworks in various countries, exposed her to broader Muslim communities. From being a Bangkokian who had never known much about how vast Muslim society is, she witnessed different Muslim societies living differently from what she had seen before, and she always applied these experiences to her work.

 

Nowadays, it can be said that Mariem has been an international artist since a young age, surpassing many artists of the same generation. If so, where does Maream want to stand in the art world in the future? We asked her the final question.

"Speaking as a foreigner, I want to be one of those referenced in the art education system. When I study art history, I want to be the person mentioned as someone who works as a model or sets a direction. That's what I aspire to be."

"Thidarat Chantachua, a representative of Muslims from the metropolitan area of Bangkok, who expresses herself through Islamic Art, speaks about her life story from childhood to adulthood, filled with political and governance issues." Mariem slowly talks about the title she wants everyone to remember in the future.