Why do queer artists depict nudes?
Curator Morakot Meyer always gets asked this question. While the display of content warnings implies the contour of artistic freedom, she thinks that it misses the point. In fact, nudity is an expression of the inner self.
"The question betrays the assumption that being queer is otherness. It is defined by exposure of sexuality," Assoc Prof Morakot, lecturer at Mahidol University, told Life last month.
To me, her anecdote is an example of the gap between appearance and reality. Thailand's gay-friendly image remains at odds with "tolerant, but unaccepting" attitudes towards LGBTIs.
Organised by Queer Art Thailand at the Bangkok Art and Culture Centre, "Patch The World–Between The Seams, Beyond The Surface" brings together 28 artists from Thailand and two from Taiwan to explore rupture, following the legalisation of marriage equality in early 2025.
"A patch is never seamless. There is always a gap between seams. Beneath every seam, there often lies a dimension deeper than what the eye can see," she said.
Let's begin with the palimpsest of "patching". It is an act of sewing a piece of material on fabric tear. Rather than having a finished look, the result is still different from the area around it. The show's title borrows the phrase from this year's Bangkok Pride Festival theme "Patch The World With Pride".
Uniting queer artists and cataloguing their works from here and there are an attempt to patch the hole of art history. Although "Patch the World" is the group's first exhibition, it builds on the success of "Spectrosynthesis II: Exposure Of Tolerance: LGBTQ+ In Southeast Asia" at BACC from November 2019 to March 2020.
Self-reflexivity highlights the constructedness of world-making and therefore opens up possibilities of queer intervention. In other words, the exhibition itself is a patch.
Yet, prejudices, beliefs and values are barriers to weaving society together. Despite legal progress, there are moments of ambiguity, ambivalence and contradiction.
Adam & Adam by Pissanu Thongmee revisits the biblical account of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden.
Although two men are presented together, they have different skin colours and are separated by a tree and a snake. Christian prohibition against homosexuality dates back to Sodom and Gomorrah, where God sent down "fire and brimstone" to destroy both cities.
Given relics of religious condemnation, the legalisation of same-sex marriage does not automatically translate into public approval.
Even in the gay community itself, there remains distance and fissure. The Swing by Phuwanai Intrakool is a tongue-in-cheek adaptation of the famous oil painting by French artist Jean-Honoré Fragonard in 1767.
In the original, a young woman plays on the swing, while a young man sits wide-eyed at her open skirt. In this reinterpretation, they are replaced with two "bears".
Colloquially known as a subgroup of gay men, bears are characterised by muscular, beefy and chunky appearance. Gays compare themselves to a wide range of animals, from cubs and otters to seahorses and octopuses, to foster individual and group identity.
Yet, some say categorisation reasserts them into hierarchy that perpetuates oppression.
Terrarium 1 by Pattarasak Na Takuatung continues this conversation. Inspired by the artist's hobby, it presents a handsome tree spirit reclining leisurely on the podium of a lush temple. While embracing freedom in domesticated nature, the guardian still conforms to gay male beauty standards.
That is why some artists think of identity as a role. Marsi Proudly Presents Her Orddinary Cat by Waranyou Changpradit is a show within a show. As implied by intentional misspelling "orddinary", Marsi complicates the judgement of one's sex on the basis of one's appearance. Is Marsi a female or a male who wears a pink wig?
As Marsi is the artist's alter ego, crossdressing expresses the idea that identity is performative. Because sex is ambiguous to the eye, the work problematises an assumption that biology determines one's sex once and for all.
If identity is a role-playing, Nurturing That Transcends Gender by Thanandorn Vorachina challenges gendered parenting through reinterpretation of dolls in a rainbow colour.
As the gender binary is firmly established in society, some artists envision utopia to escape from limiting or unpleasant realities. Until The Moonlight Disappeared by Piyada Na Badalung is an impressionist oil painting of public space.
Inspired by her longing for nature, she envisions two gender-neutral transparent figures sharing a casual, intimate moment in the park during the morning twilight. Bonfire is a symbol of their intense, yet ephemeral one-night stand.
Her work not only builds on but also destigmatises cruising culture. While Yellow City by Chatchai Phojjanaporn imagines a new town, After The Wind – Lotus Beyond Boundaries by Prem Buachum embraces nature to thrive.
Some artists resolve conflict between self and society in their own ways.
Twilight Of Enlightenment by Theepatis Boonvijitnititorn chooses to reconcile old and new values. Inspired by René Magritte, the Belgian surrealist artist, it presents a nude man with a traditional headgear along with fantasy creatures to envision co-existence.
Dendrobium Sonia V by Naraphat Sakarthornsap proposes adaptation for survival.
On the other hand, some offer a direct critique of shackles. In Human Puppet by Surachai Saengsuwan and The Lady by Tom Potisit, women are subject to social control and devoid of autonomy.
Situated between two opposite sides of the gallery, Portal II by Karma Sirikogar explores an intersection of queerness and spirituality. Due to personal struggle, the artist turns to meditation to overcome constraints. Her multimedia artwork transports visitors to transcendental experience.
On a dome's screen is a video that combines her paintings and photos of nature, including pomegranate, sea, and waterfall. Patterns of the seed of life lead to the next without end. Images flow in a cycle rather than follow a linear plot. Visitors can enter the flow state from anywhere.
"I think the answer to my struggle is to transcend the ego," she said.
At the heart of the collective's first edition lies a message that weaving a gender-inclusive world is not finished yet. Same-sex marriage is often touted as a sign of progress.
After more than a year, however, some related laws still await reform, while campaign for gender recognition is met with transphobia. It is part of global far-right surge, which further infringes on minority rights. A lot needs to be done to patch rupture.
"Patch The World-Between The Seams, Beyond The Surface" runs at the Bangkok Art and Culture Centre until tomorrow.
