Flowers and Absences: Araya Rasdjarmrearnsook's Retrospective in Dubai

A major retrospective of Araya Rasdjarmrearnsook, one of Southeast Asia's most significant artists, opens in Dubai. The exhibition spans forty-five years of practice and marks a new chapter in a two-part exhibition project, the first inaugurated at the MAIIAM Contemporary Art Museum in Chiang Mai. The title, The Bouquet and the Wreath, recalls a bouquet and a funeral wreath, introducing the central themes of Araya's research: the dialectic between life and death, joy and pain, intimacy and loss. Recurring motifs such as flowers, beds, and words appear in the Dubai galleries, symbolizing a poetic reflection on love, illness, desire, and mortality. The works, which range from video to sculpture, photography, and installations, convey a visual language in which lightness and gravity coexist, creating an experience suspended between the personal and the universal. Born in 1957 in Thailand and active in Chiang Mai, Araya is also a writer and teacher. She has played a decisive role in Thai art education, introducing interdisciplinary approaches and training generations of young artists. Her works, often focused on death and collective memory, have sparked international debate since her first videos set in morgues, as well as in the Two Planets series, which brings reproductions of Western masterpieces into dialogue with rural Thai communities. Her career has been marked by participation in biennials and major exhibitions in Europe, Asia, and America, and her works are included in the collections of institutions such as the Guggenheim in New York and M+ in Hong Kong. The Dubai retrospective, curated by Kittima Chareeprasit and Roger Nelson, also includes new commissions and will be accompanied by a publication published by Press Works. The Bouquet and the Wreath offers international audiences a unique opportunity to retrace the career of an artist who has successfully addressed universal themes through a language deeply rooted in Thai culture, creating an imagery in which personal intimacy and the collective dimension are inextricably intertwined.