Fabric
2017. Video (19:41 minutes, 16:9, sound), Patchworks Installation, dimension variables
Photo courtesy of MAIIAM Contemporary Art Museum
The billions global fashion industry is one of the most important sectors of our global economy. The reality of this
industry is that many individual producers in the developing countries work long hours under forceful conditions
for pennies on the dollars, far less than a living wage.
The project Fabric (2017), referring to textile fabric but also to the fabric of society, is a mixed media installation
comprising patchworks and video work that address issues of labour and economic migration across Southeast
Asia countries. Piyarat initiated and executed this project in Southeast Asia countries where became top of
outsourcing destination for the past decades because its low labour cost.
Over 6 months, Piyarat had spent her days conducting artistic research over several countries in Southeast Asia
including Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia and Myanmar where she observed of garment workers carefully in Industrial
Zones and Special Economic Zones (SEZs), and created collaborative artworks with local labours in each sites.
Additional, apart from Southeast Asia countries, she also spent a short time in Japan for research about a history of
the workers’ struggles in a mill during Meiji Era in order to pass on the ongoing story but differ in time and place.
This project is supported by the Japan Foundation Asia Center Fellowship Program.
Collection of MAIIAM Contemporary Art Museum