Phaptawan Suwannakudt graduated from Silpakorn University, Thailand with a degree in English and German and completed her MVA at Sydney College of the Arts, the University of Sydney.
Read MorePhaptawan Suwannakudt’s work encompasses traditional Thai mural painting, public projects and individual paintings. She appropriates the artistic methods and traditions of her homeland and situates them within a contemporary western context. Suwannakudt describes herself as ‘physically absent but not emotionally separated from Thailand’. The narratives within her work are now more personal. Instead of using stories of Buddha, Suwannakudt’s paintings reveal an insight into the artist’s life in her adopted country – glimpses of the suburban world around her, fused with memories of her past.
She has held solo exhibitions in Sydney, Bangkok and Melbourne, recent shows include Locution-(re)-Locations, 100Tonson, Bangkok (2011); Catching the moment: Each Step is the Past, 4A Centre for Contemporary Asian Art, Sydney (2010); Three Worlds, Arc One gallery, Melbourne (2009).
Phaptawan received an Australia Council Grant for new work by an established artist (2001); Bundanon Trust, residential Studio Grant (2003) and Gunnery Studio residency, NSW Ministry for the Arts (2005). During her residency at Artspace Phaptawan will be working towards community project Edge of Elsewhere, to be exhibited at Campbelltown Arts Centre as part of 2012 Sydney Festival.