ART AS A VEHICLE FOR NATIONALISM, IDENTITY, AND MODERNISATION IN NINETEENTH-CENTURY THAILAND

Abstract

This article extends from the curatorial research underpinning the collaborative exhibition Time is the Substance I Am Made Of, developed in partnership with contemporary Thai artist SIRAWIT CHATU. The exhibition’s feature a triptych, a diptych, and a single-panel acrylic painting, the project explores the reinterpretation of 19th-century Thai historical motifs through a contemporary context. With the practice-based research and visual analysis, the study investigates how art functioned as a critical medium in the construction of Thai nationalism, identity, and modernisation during the reigns of King Mongkut (Rama IV) and King Chulalongkorn (Rama V). The methodology integrates historical inquiry, iconographic analysis, contemporary theoretical perspectives on the concept of time, and curatorial practice, focusing particularly on the adoption of siwilai, a Thai transliteration of "civilise" as a framework through which the monarchy negotiated modernity and sovereignty in response to colonial pressures. By examining the strategic assimilation of Western aesthetics, cultural institutions, and artistic conventions, the research reveals how Thai rulers strategically mobilised visual culture to project a modern national image while preserving cultural specificity, evident in initiatives; the establishment of national museums and the adoption of both traditional fresco techniques and Western oil painting. Case studies include the work of Khrua In Khong, a monastic painter whose innovative integration of Western mural painting techniques, particularly in his use of perspective, depth, and volume into Thai murals, exemplifies this hybridity. The resulting artworks reframe historical narratives in dialogue with contemporary Thai identity and cultural memory. The project demonstrates that curatorial practice can generate new interpretative frameworks for understanding art’s agency in national formation and its resonance in present-day socio-political discourse.