L.I.N.E, 2021


A piece of string made of 23.16 karat or 96.5% gold weighs equal to one Baht (a local weighing unit for gold, not the Thai currency Baht). This work is suspended in the gallery space to emphasize its precarity and underline class disparity in Thai society and the struggle to identify with the nation, historically associated with the ruling power and elite.

Not only a political and economic crisis, but we are also facing with coronavirus pandemic. Over 2,500 suicide cases linked to Covid-19 stress; business closures spiked nearly 40 percent from last year. Thailand household debt reached 83.8% of the country's Nominal GDP in June 2020, compared with the ratio of 80.2 % in March 2020. Many people lost their jobs, and some had to sell off their valuables to sustain their lives.

Although Thailand is known as a part of Suvarnabhumi or "Land of Gold," the vast majority of people are still poor. They have access to fewer resources than the ruling class, which have developed within a constitutional monarchy. Over time, these discrepancies have created irreparable tensions: between the super-rich and the extremely poor, between love and hate, between giving up or moving on. For Wantanee, these tensions can be seen as a "thin line" floating in the space. Even we try so hard, and we cannot cross that line.

Image 01

Image 01