Connecting people through art 

Mo num en ts, 2025

Video Installation: 4-channel video synchronization, color, 5.1 audio system, and photographs.

Dimension variable

Produced by Han Nefkens Foundation – Southeast Asian Video Art Production Grant 2024, in collaboration with the Outpost Art Organisation, Vietnam; the Jim Thompson Art Center, Thailand; Museion, Italy; Hiroshima City Museum of Contemporary Art, Japan; Kunsthal Charlottenborg, Denmark and Rockbund Art Museum, China

The work focuses on how American and Thai propaganda reshaped landscapes and natural resources, not only on the surface but deep within systems of land and people management. Development was promoted as a path toward modernization and well-being, aligning Thailand with the “Free World.” It was celebrated through global achievements and cultural symbols, from Miss Universe titles and rice export rankings to monumental dams such as Bhumibol, the global fame of Thai silk (Jim Thompson), and the hybridization of Northeastern Thai music (Molam) influenced by American pop culture.

One of the most advanced technologies imported during the Cold War was not only weaponry but also media – radio and television. The U.S. Information Service (USIS) produced an abundance of media materials in Thailand, including films, magazines, and books, to promote narratives of progress and the Free World’s vision of modernization. These materials portrayed infrastructure, education, and healthcare as signs of advancement, urging Thailand and its allies to emulate American ideals.

In Mo num en ts, Supaparinya juxtaposes these historical media artifacts with the current socio-political landscape of Thailand – what she calls the “post-propaganda era.” By doing so, she examines how the legacies of Cold War ideologies continue to inform governmental discourse and how symbols of “national pride” were, in fact, shaped by foreign influence and the logic of war-time diplomacy.

Her research led her to question why major dams such as Pak Mun and Bhumibol remain preserved despite minimal electricity production and severe ecological damage. While obsolete dams in the U.S. have been dismantled, in Thailand they endure as monuments of ideology, protected not for their utility but for their symbolic status as milestones of development and untouchable state narratives.