The Thai artist talks about his personal relationship with history.

When we met with Arin Rungjang, he welcomed&nbsp;us into his Berlin apartment. The 44-year-old artist is the recipient of a one-year artistic residence in the city from the German Academic Exchange Service, or DAAD, which in addition to university exchanges provides one-year scholarships to artists. Currently, he is preparing a personal exhibition that will open&nbsp;in Singapore in August, at&nbsp;the Gillman Barracks artistic hub. In November, he will participate in the Toronto Biennial. Rungjang spoke with&nbsp;L&#39;Officiel Italia&nbsp;about his sources of inspiration and bringing his LGBTQ identity into his work.

Wool cardigan, Prada; “Code 11.59 by Audemars Piguet” self-winding 18-carat white gold watch, 41 mm, Audemars Piguet. At the beginning of the service.

Where did you find inspiration during your formative years?&nbsp;

Originally, Thailand&#39;s economy depended on agriculture.&nbsp;In 1932, when the political system changed from an absolute monarchy to a&nbsp;constitutional one,&nbsp;the prime minister decided to force men to westernize by wearing hats, so that they looked more&nbsp;English, and eating&nbsp;eggs to increase their muscle mass!&nbsp;It&#39;s absurd, don&#39;t you think?&nbsp;My mother belongs to the first generation born during this time, but she has always felt connected to the agricultural&nbsp;era of boats in the canals and buffalo in the rice fields.&nbsp;It is important that you understand the landscape of my youth.&nbsp;The art school that I attended had a&nbsp;traditional reputation.&nbsp;My teachers&#39; generation was the first to have had the chance to study abroad.&nbsp;People came back with legendary stories, similar to the days when villagers returned from the forest and claimed to have killed a tiger, and&nbsp;the whole village would believe it!&nbsp;One of my professors went to D&uuml;sseldorf;&nbsp;on his return, he told us about Joseph Beuys.&nbsp;There was no internet at the time, so we had no choice but to believe him.&nbsp;And from that, we have drawn&nbsp;our&nbsp;consequences.

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Right now you are working on pieces&nbsp;for &quot;Spectrosynthesis II&quot;, the second most important event in Asia dedicated to LGBTQ art.&nbsp;Until now, your sexuality has never been at the center of your journey.&nbsp;

It didn&#39;t seem necessary.&nbsp;I felt comfortable with who&nbsp;I was.&nbsp;When I received the invitation to participate in this event, I began to reflect on my childhood and&nbsp;the difficulties I encountered as a gay man.&nbsp;I realized that it was not about&nbsp;sharing&nbsp;my private problems, but it was important&nbsp;to&nbsp;highlight common points with more general paradigms.&nbsp;Among my friends, I was the luckiest;&nbsp;many had great difficulties in coming out, others died of AIDS.&nbsp;

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Was there a moment when you felt that your professional life had to take another direction?&nbsp;

The &quot;Rwanda Project&quot;, an installation I made for the 2012 Sydney Biennale, had a great impact on me.&nbsp;I worked with 13 orphans whose parents had been killed in the genocide.&nbsp;Having lost my father myself, I felt very close to them.&nbsp;Not only did I learn a lot from their testimonies, but I felt humanly connected to them through the work.

Photography: Dennis Schoenberg&nbsp; 
Styling: Bodo Ernle 
Grooming: Kenny Campbell

Arin Rungjang on LGBTQ Identity and Mid-Century Thailand

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Arin Rungjang on LGBTQ Identity and Mid-Century Thailand

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