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DOMESTICATED (2021)
Between 2019 and 2021, Thailand saw a nationwide uprising against military rule. As one of the participants, witnessing young protesters being violently attacked by military forces moved Kittaya Poolsawatdi from an observer of history to someone living through it.
Domesticated carries the spirit of that resistance. The exhibition explores the lingering legacy of Cold War propaganda—an ideology that has largely faded in the West, yet continues to shape Thai society, leaving deep scars that continue to fuel political unrest today.
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- Concept of Artworks -
At the center of Domesticated is the artist's questioning of the idea of "Thainess." He examines how national identity can become an ideological enclosure, conditioning people to willingly live within boundaries defined by those who hold power.
Exhibition Domesticated (2021):
The exhibition examines how systems of power are sustained not only through force, but through culture, mythology, education, and repetition.
- Symbolic Metaphor -
Animal Farm by George Orwell
Borrowing its conceptual framework from George Orwell's Animal Farm, Poolsawatdi employs animals as political allegories to examine how people can be domesticated into accepting an ideology defined by those in power.
"The strongest cage is not built to keep animals in. It is built to make them follow an ideology without question."
-KP
While retaining the structure of Western academic painting, Poolsawatdi embraced an unexpectedly vivid palette of saturated pinks, electric greens, and royal blues—the latter referencing the symbolism of "blue blood" and inherited hierarchy.
The exhibition was conceived as a traditional Thai Likay (folk opera) theatre, where visitors encountered the paintings as spectators attending a live performance. Floating figures, theatrical compositions, and the vacant gaze of characters such as Mae Ploy deliberately blur the line between admiration and satire, leaving viewers uncertain whether the artist is celebrating or questioning the myths before them.
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