Mit Jai Inn, a native of Thailandʼs Yong ethnic minority, is exhibiting his ribbon-shaped painting Peopleʼs Wall 2022 (2022) on the eaves of 8 traditional houses and other locations in Arimatsu, a town with a 400-year history. Mit studied painting in Austria in the 1980s and worked as an assistant to Franz West before returning to Thailand in 1992. Since then, he has deployed a variety of methods to further expand the possibilities of traditional painting, including painting on both sides of the canvas, cutting the canvas, weaving, and exhibiting on the floor or outdoors. In recent years, these challenges have taken an increasingly innovative direction.

For his exhibition at Aichi Triennale 2022, Mit was inspired by scenes of Arimatsu depicted in ukiyo-e prints from the Edo period that feature tie-dyed fabrics fluttering outdoors in the wind, as well as noren curtains hung outside shopfronts. His studio in Chiang Mai is a space that faces the open air, bathed in brilliant sunlight. The fact that his paintings, painted in such a natural environment and absorbing light and air, can be viewed in a public space is an attempt to make painting coexist with local history, traditional culture, and peopleʼs lives.

Peopleʼs Wall 2022 is also a flag that symbolizes the power of ordinary people against authoritarianism and monarchy. Like a noren curtain, this series of paintings gently divides public from private space, but the heavy ribbon-like paintings, which retain the artistʼs brushstrokes, blur the boundaries and divide the space, conveying Mitʼs wish to deliver positive energy for survival to all those who come into contact with his paintings.

Mit Jai Innʼs thoughts on the relationship between people and art are also expressed in his “1000 Time Calendar,” in which he offered 365 small artworks, a few each day for 73 days during the Triennale, to the audience free of charge, and asked them to upload their photos on social media. This is also a response to the “I Am Still Alive” telegram that On Kawara sent for 30 years.

Selected Works & Awards

2021

Dreamworld (solo), IKON Gallery, Birmingham, UK

2019

Color in Cave (solo), Museum MACAN, Jakarta, Indonesia

2018

21st Biennale of Sydney, Australia

2017

SUNSHOWER: Contemporary Art from Southeast Asia 1980s to Now, Mori Art Museum, Tokyo, Japan

2012

15th Biennale of Sydney, Australia

Exhibition

• Installation view at Aichi Triennale 2022
• People’s Wall 2022, 2022
• Photo: ToLoLo studio