Visiting Thai artist inspired by book she never read
Thai artist Sutthirat Supaparinya’s first solo show in New Zealand, Steal This Book, opens at Toi Pōneke Gallery on30 October.
Based in Chiang Mai in Northern Thailand, Supaparinya is the 2015 Wellington Asia Residency Exchange (WARE) artist, and says the latest pieces are a departure from her recent focus on video work exploring the impact of electricity generation.
Steal This Book reimagines the content of a banned book as an art exhibition, and is a response to limitations on freedom of expression in Thailand following the military takeover of 2014. Consisting of both new and earlier works, Steal This Book reinterprets the infamous publication, Steal This Book by American social activist Abbie Hoffman, which was banned in 1971.