14 – 28 September 2025
Revisited Prints of Narration
by Chatnapat Panyaphet
Curated by ubasato
with assistant Dul Prince
Dul Prince happened to accompany ubasato to a tea gathering at the home of Eki (Eki Norström, a man of Swedish–Thai–Taiwanese heritage). The conversation touched on the Thai–Cambodian border disputes, the uprisings in Nepal (Nepo-kids), and the political imprisonment of Thaksin Shinawatra. What fascinated me was how foreigners engaged with both Thai politics and global situations at the same time.
After some time in conversation, Ubasato caught sight of an artwork (a lithographic print) hanging in the corridor leading to the household shrine. He asked about its origin. Eki explained that it was a piece he had made during his student years. He remarked that his feelings now were not so different from back then, and that the image still seemed unchanged … (1)
Eki recalled the year 2006, when he was in Sweden. He saw the royal crown logo and the blue–yellow flag everywhere, with people coexisting peacefully—so different from Thailand at that time, which was mired in political conflict and turmoil. Later that winter, missing and worrying about his mother, he returned to Thailand in 2008. He said he felt deeply affected by the atmosphere of political division in his youth, a period when he began questioning the problems surrounding him.
During that visit, his mother asked him to help clean and organize the house since he rarely came home. While tidying up, he came across an old schoolbook cover. It was from a textbook of an earlier era, juxtaposing images of people accused of “lacking culture.” Since his Thai literacy was limited, he couldn’t recall the book’s title and mostly engaged with the pictures. There were also comic-style history illustrations. This became the seed of his interest in illustration and in post-colonial thought, which he later pursued through reading and study abroad … (2)
Eki pointed out the symbolic layering in his works—from colonial emblems to nationalist constructs—woven into the images: the European royal crown, a fox illustration from Punch magazine, satirical cartoons of the Siam–France dispute of 1893, monuments, the red dove as a symbol of colonial spread, boy scouts shooting ducks en masse (which he saw as a metaphor for the accumulation and outbreak of violence), Miss Thailand figures—nude, fragile, fragmented compositions, processions blending with ballroom dancing of the “sun and breeze” era, infused with Western nation-building formulas. He remarked that, in truth, wearing homespun cotton clothes was much more comfortable in Thailand … (3)
Because his life has crossed between multiple cultures, Eki often reflects on the idea of “nation.” Through research and piecing together narratives, he has explored Thai political history across eras. Now, it has been 19 years since he began this body of work, yet his feelings remain unchanged after nearly two decades. The symbols he drew upon became the material for his art through processes of deconstruction and appropriation—taking images from old schoolbooks that once served as propaganda. With them, he creates borders, weaving in the cultures he is connected to, measuring and blending them with the life he inhabits and the society he participates in … (4)
Notes by ubasato
Exhibition on view: 14 – 28 September 2025
