Celebrating femininity

During the Covid-19 lockdowns, Assoc Prof Kunjana Dumsopee, a lecturer at the Department of Fine Arts, School of Architecture Art and Design, King Mongkut’s Institute of Technology Ladkrabang, moved to her family’s home in Phetchaburi.
After staying in Phetchaburi for a while, her brother, who had always dreamed of having a horse of his own bought one. When the family went to pick up the horse, the foal followed its mother. Unable to bear the thought of separating the mother and baby, the family brought the foal home too. For Kunjana, that was an impressive experience since she had never had to care for a large animal before.
Almost a year later, at night, the mare gave birth to another foal. This surprised the whole family because nobody was aware that the mare was pregnant. The story of the mare inspired Kunjana to create the art exhibition “Madame Horse’s Tale”.
“The femininity of a mare links to that of a woman. This inspired me to create the exhibition, ‘Madame Horse’s Tale’. All the women featured in the exhibition are unidentified, yet in my mind, they are all ‘Madames’, each possessing their own unique beauty, strength and charm,” explained Kunjana.
“Madame Horse’s Tale” displays numerous art pieces created from various techniques in both two and three-dimensional forms. Every piece is filled with exquisite and endearing elements showcasing the artist’s feminine sensibility. Walking through the entrance, visitors will see three delicate wooden boxes, titled, Beloved Home, which showcase images printed on acrylic sheets. The images depict women engaged in everyday activities in their homes.
On the left wall, next to the collection, Beloved Home, Madame Horse’s Collection features several small and colourful wooden pieces attached to the wall. The most prominent piece features a girl’s head with short pink hair tied with a red bow. It seems to suggest that the exhibition is about women and is created by a female artist.
As both an undergraduate and a graduate student at the Faculty of Painting Sculpture and Graphic Arts, Silpakorn University, Kunjana majored in printmaking. Due to her interest in printmaking, many pieces were created with different printmaking techniques. For example, Waiting For The Sunshine, Seasonal Humidity and Stand By Me were created with a risograph, a type of digital duplicator that works similar to screen printing. Meanwhile, Whispering From Nature I, III And V and Return & Departure were created by etching.
Kunjana explained why she has a passion for printmaking.
“I was an art student at Thai Vichitsilp School, so I used to paint and create sculptures. When I studied at Silpakorn University, I had never experienced printmaking before but once I started learning, I realised there was so much more to discover. It is a challenging art form because we have to carefully plan how to use different plates to achieve desired colours. The interesting part is that we can only control about 80% to 90% of the process. The rest is kind of an ‘accidental control’ that leads to beautiful mistakes.”
In one section, there are many images of women made from the risograph which showcase a diverse range of female styles including sporty, sexy, graceful and cute. Although the exhibition displays many female images and has messages connected to femininity, Kunjana emphasised that she is not a feminist. She just aims to depict the varied personalities of women.
When asked about the importance of expressing femininity in her work, she stated that as a woman, things about women are easy for her to understand and she finds it natural to tell women’s stories.
“I personally believe simplicity is beauty. Women do not have to search for beauty elsewhere. Our own beauty is within us. Stories about ourselves are our charms,” Kunjana said.
In addition to printmaking techniques, three light boxes made of acrylic sheets and wooden boxes titled Rainy Season, Summer Season and Winter Season invite viewers to journey with Madame Horse through various seasons. Each box presents a different vibe to match its respective seasons.
During her time in Phetchaburi, Kunjana lived close to nature, so many artworks were inspired by its beauty. One wall is filled with etching artwork inspired by trees and gardens in Phetchaburi. Another section, which displays a series of multi-coloured sculptures and paintings, titled Seasonal Fruit, was inspired by fruits in gardens.
The images and sculptures in the Seasonal Fruit collection look like two hands clasped together.
“In the absence of technology, people in the past learned through trial and error to determine fruit ripeness. They used their senses, such as touch and smell, to gauge whether a fruit was ready to eat. The act of squeezing has become a symbolic representation of this determining process, so I used that gesture in the exhibition,” explained Kunjana.
Although “Madame Horse’s Tale” is Kunjana’s debut solo exhibition in Thailand, many of her printmaking pieces have been displayed in other countries such as USA, Japan, Germany and Australia. She also held a solo exhibition in Nagoya, Japan.
“The exhibition was based on the idea that animals have a sense about disasters. It showed how animals like elephants, rats and dogs seem to know when a tsunami or earthquake is coming. It would be beneficial if humans had this kind of internal sense to predict disasters, but people have become too dependent on technology and have lost some of their natural instincts. The exhibition received a positive response from Japanese viewers since they are familiar with disasters, so they can relate to the exhibition,” said Kunjana.
The final piece of the exhibition is a sculpture, Jib Jib. The sculpture, made of painted pink wood, depicts the top half of a woman with a green bird perched on her right hand. Kunjana said it was inspired by her new pet.
“A small green bird was found on the campus. When I went to check on it, it perched on my shoulder. So I brought it home to care for it. It seemed to be a pet bird, but after searching for the owner, no one claimed it. This is my first time having a pet bird.”
As Kunjana has a new pet, is it possible that her next exhibition will be about birds? She smiled and said she did not want to disclose yet.
Kunjana hopes that visitors will enjoy the current exhibition.
“I hope my exhibition brings smiles to viewers and that they have a good time. When I see viewers enthusiastically taking photos of my work and hear them say they like my artwork or compliment a particular art piece, I am happy. I created the exhibition with joy and hope that I can share my happiness to others.”
“Madame Horse’s Tale” runs at Mini Xspace Gallery, Pridi Banomyong 14. The exhibition ends today. Admission is free. For more information, visit facebook.com/Xspaceartgallery.