Loves Get Better with Time Quietly by Sudaporn Teja
Serindia Gallery at O.P. Garden
Bangkok, Thailand
June - July 2018
Loves Get Better with Time Quietly is an exploration into modern-day gender fluidity and the issues of LGBTQ inclusion in society in Thailand. Sudaporn Teja, in her fourth solo show at Serindia Gallery, interpreted various aspects of her recent experience with the local LGBTQ community. In these new paintings, she infused other media, from liquid hormones to other symbolic objects and languages, resulting in conceptually-charged pieces. She also shot some photographs and documentary, conducting interviews with various personalities in the LGBTQ community.
A more personal note, it was the loss of Sudaporn's best friend James, whose death saddened and inspired her. James's untimely death reconnected Sudaporn with other 'loves' and gender boundaries. Loves Get Better with Time Quietly is a remembrance to James as well as a dedication to the love and friendship with the LGBTQ community — an artistic expression of her humanity.
Gender Illumination
Museum Siam
Bangkok, Thailand
May - September 2018
Gender Illumination is one of our exhibitions created by the Museum Siam. Based itself on our concerns of the role of museum toward the society, the exhibition is aimed at building awareness and alertness against contemporary ongoing issues for the sake of the reduction of prejudices as well as generating respects of human dignity on the basis of accessibility and collaboration.
This exhibition presented Thailand’s broad history of gender diversity and displayed stories and objects contributed by ordinary individuals. It portrayed detailed aspects of lifestyles under the broader social and cultural structures and sought to lead the audience to understand lives and spirits of ordinary people who live in a variety of lifestyles.
FLEUR: Blooming of Diversity by Sudaporn Teja
Alliance Française Bangkok
Bangkok, Thailand
May - June 2019
FLEUR: Blooming of Diversity is a follow-up of Sudaporn Teja's groundbreaking conceptual show LGBTQ at Serindia Gallery, in which she exhibited mixed-media works whose inspirations came from stories of the LGBTQ community – her lost friends and their lives. In FLEUR, she celebrates the beauties of gender diversity and individuality – every human deserves to be treated equally regardless of their birth gender. Sudaporn interprets these human and social dimensions in this latest series of works in FLEUR, at Alliance Française Bangkok, from 15 May to 6 June, presented in association with Serindia Gallery.
FLEUR : Blooming of Diversity fait suite à l'exposition LGBTQ de Sudaporn Teja à la galerie Serindia, lors de laquelle étaient présentées des œuvres inspirées d’histoires de la communauté LGBTQ - ses amis disparus et leurs vies. Dans FLEUR, elle célèbre la beauté de la diversité des genres et des individualités - chaque être humain mérite d'être traité sur un pied d'égalité, quel que soit son sexe biologique. Sudaporn interprète ces dimensions humaines et sociales dans cette dernière série d'œuvres FLEUR, à l'Alliance Française de Bangkok, du 15 mai au 6 juin, présentée en association avec la galerie Serindia.
SPECTROSYNTHESIS II - Exposure of Tolerance: LGBTQ in Southeast Asia
Bangkok Art and Culture Centre
Bangkok, Thailand
November 2019 - March 2020
We are all individuals, and each of us unique. Each represents a different hue in society’s broad spectrum. Yet society influences us to overlook many of these gradations of difference, to be unwittingly blind to them or deliberately ignore them. Human beings are conditioned to stereotype and marginalize.
As for the diversity of sexual preference and gender identity, being different from the accepted norm usually results in a tension. This exhibition creates a dialogue around that tension, as voiced by dozens of artists from within Southeast Asia as well as from the transnational Indian and Chinese spheres of cultural influence and migration that have helped shape the region.
The artists’ lively discussion helps reveal what it means to grow up in society when your gender identity or preference is different from the norm. Many of them confront issues of human rights and equal justice. Some of them ask, why struggle to be “normal”, when you can celebrate being different? They discuss how boundaries are being shifted, social frameworks are being opened up, and established values are being questioned.
In Southeast Asia, the degree of tolerance varies from one place to another. But even where social acceptance is high, as it generally is here in Thailand’s capital, exclusionary practices and rules are commonplace. These often hidden biases await exposure. Yet today, a greater acceptance of diverse gender identities and preferences is emerging in Southeast Asia as in much of the world. This emergence of tolerance has to be viewed against the region’s unique mixtures of cultural and religious traditions. The protagonists in this show help us explore the social norms and frameworks of the cultures they grew up in.
Exposing the narrowness of societal norms can help us all envision alternative attitudes that are more inclusive and more respectful of difference. This should benefit everyone, since everyone is different in some way. The artistic dialogue here is specifically about tolerance and acceptance of sexual and gender diversity, but it is relevant to more than just the LGBTQ community. Broad-minded thinking serves everyone.