This Saturday, December 16, 5pm - 9pm, Reisig and Taylor Contemporary is holding a Reception for the Release of the Exhibition Catalogue produced on the occasion of Suwichada Busamrong-Press’ ongoing solo exhibition, Chapter 2: A Long Way Home. The exhibition is on view through December 23, 2023. …. Excerpt from Catalogue: “Coming from a rural and economically extracted (but socially and politically neglected) region of Northeast Thailand, much of Suwichada’s work focuses on recovering the aesthetic and cultural contributions of the home she left behind (but often returns to). Collectively titled Mama’s Fermented Pot[s] (2023), her ceramic vessels repossess the traditional pots her mother used to make fermented fish (Pla-ra) in the Isaan (Northeast) region of Thailand where she grew-up. Shaped like an open-mouth fish and textured with supple grids of scales under a shining glaze, these dark-brown vessels transform a traditional craft (and a tool of labor) into a mysterious object of reverence in the form of a cycling portal: a fish filled with (dead) fish in order to give life in the form of food that already fills the fish’s belly. But where there are autobiographical cycles of meaning and layers of references there are also histories and mythologies. Despite fermented fish (Pla-ra) being a crucial product across Thailand, ethnically Lao people from this rural region—and particularly fermented fish (Pla-ra) producers—are often degraded because of the smell associated with this form of work (and the workers): a symptom of the historical, political, and social marginalization of this region of Thailand. She replies with a revelation…. Along the rim of a jug emerge the horizons of an entire world: Although the production of Pla-ra (made from Siamese carp) is most likely rooted in techniques of survival, the gratuitous use of the condiment-type food throughout Isaan (Northeast) Thai cuisine has spread far beyond its regional limits and is often a surplus addition to dishes across much of Thailand. In effect, with time, Pla-ra has, if only speculatively, passed from necessity to a kind of luxury. However, this does not achieve a destigmatization of the work associated with a food, a racialized—or at least ethnically-charged—class distinction based on the historical demographics of the predominantly Lao population of Isaan. Similar to another fermented fish seasoning produced in Laos (padaek), Pla-ra is made by fermenting freshwater fish with salt or rice bran. Since much of the population of Northeast Thailand is ethnically Lao, there is a long history of connecting the labor of making Pla-ra with the Lao population. This assignment of ethnic/racial, class/economic, and material/aesthetic markers creates a repressive ethical paradox of taste (and value) where what is desired comes from someone who is “unwanted” or marginalized. Followed as a series of exchanges across these political contexts, Pla-ra provides an important example of an economy of taste and of how the (social-visual) exclusion or forgetting of labor functions as a pathology in the public circulation of an object of desire—of something to eat. Suwichada displays the contradictions embedded in her pots as a central axis of her redoubled cultural position as a (Lao-Isaan-)Thai-American artist; as an international, planetary worker. Rather than reinstating usual categories or hierarchies of art/objects, her minimally rendered work allows the parallel universes simultaneously inhabited by herself, the others who encounter her art, and the objects she creates to coexist. Implicitly but directly, she works with an ethics of taste that builds on non-Western relations between labor, necessity, and fine art that are navigated through her ancestry as well as post-conceptual ideations of art objects. (Any meaning conveyed by any of the works occurs on every level, from the aesthetic to the discursive; that is, all at once: no longer only “behind” or “in-font.”) Centering on desire’s ability to shift the status or cultural position of an object, the exhibition issues a critique of this imperial/national economic complex by emphasizing the inseparability of work from a work, the work of an art from an artwork. And by remembering the inseparability of memory and presence.” [Text by objet A.D] ____ My work evokes a passage through a long journey to find myself. Each piece is born from a reverence for my ancestors and the simple beautiful life with nature they cultivated. Through a combination of abstract forms, I explore how traditional cultures and values connect to new ideas of modern living. I am influenced by my Northeast Thai roots and the vibrant colors of my dialect culture, emphasizing spontaneity while also connecting to the emotive quality of each form. I hope that these stories can be experienced in a way that reminds us of the subtleties and nuances of our history. | Suwichada Busamrong-Press (b. 1975 in Khonkean, Thailand) is a Thai-American artist based in Los Angeles, California. She is an interdisciplinary artist who begins by recalling her memories in writings and transfers them into paintings, sculpture, and performance. Suwichada earned her B.F.A. in interior design and fiber from the College for Creative Studies and her M.Arch. in architecture from Cranbrook Academy of Art (both in Detroit). She received her M.F.A. from Otis College of Art and Design in 2023. Her work has been presented in various group shows around the country, including: Detroit, New York, Dallas, and Los Angeles. | Image: Installation View\Night. Positioned at gallery rear, oriented toward Northeast corner.