Manit Sriwanichpoom and Akkara Naktamna

1PROJECTS in collaboration with West Eden presents ‘Delusional - หลงผิด’, an exhibition that explores the state of democracy in Thailand under a political system claiming to be democratic but systematically denying its essence.

Bringing together works by Manit Sriwanichpoom and Akkara Naktamna, the exhibition examines the suffocating realities of life under Thailand’s political and ideological structures. It exposes Thai citizenship as a condition shaped by systemic failure rather than democratic participation.

Through powerful visual metaphors, both artists reveal how state power controls, obscures, and manipulates the lives and freedoms of Thai people who are forced to endure the consequences of that malfunction. The artists’ works symbolize how systems of power constrict, distort, and ultimately dehumanize the people they claim to serve.

What does it mean to be a citizen in a democratic nation when both air and vision are controlled by forces beyond one’s reach? Does the Thai public hold false beliefs? Do the artists hold false beliefs? Do we hold false judgements about external reality despite evidence to the contrary?

Are we DELUSIONAL?

Akkara Naktamna

Manit Sriwanichpoom

Portraits of Thai Citizen

In August 2021—four years ago—a video clip surfaced showing a group of police officers torturing a suspect using a simple yet brutal method: placing a plastic shopping bag over his head. Tragically, the officers tightened the bag for too long, causing the suspect to suffocate and die in police custody, right in the interrogation room of a police station.

The clip became a major, shocking news story that reverberated throughout society. It starkly revealed that the lives of Thai people under the hands of the justice system are worth no more than animals in a slaughterhouse—utterly disposable, stripped of all humanity.

Manit Sriwanichpoom has drawn inspiration from this unforgettable act of brutality for his new series, ‘Portraits of Thai Citizen,’ consisting of six works. The series reflects the idea that the face of a Thai citizen is no different from having a plastic bag patterned with the colors of the national flag permanently covering their head. These are the colors of the three core ideological pillars—Nation, Religion, Monarchy—which wield influence and power greater than the constitution that is meant to guarantee rights and freedoms.

Thai citizens must struggle beneath this national-flag plastic bag, while those in power decide how tightly it will be constricted, how much air they are allowed to breathe. At the same time, their hands are bound by the handcuffs of the justice system.

These are not portraits of citizens filled with the familiar ‘Siam smiles’ seen on tourism posters. Rather, they are portraits that reflect the inner psychological condition of Thai citizens—one that some may not dare to acknowledge or even look at.

Akkara Naktamna

Failing Dreams

The Democracy Monument proudly proclaims that Thailand is a civilized democratic nation. However, the reality is not quite so perfect. Frequent interference from certain powers has made the path of Thai democracy rough and unstable. Since the political transition in 1932, there have been 13 coups and 20 constitutions. These facts serve as a much clearer testament to our history than a concrete monument used merely as a traffic roundabout or a place for flower decorations.

In this photography series, I captured the Democracy Monument through a television screen suffering from signal interference. The static twisted the images into broken waves. Locals refer to this phenomenon as a ‘failing image.’ Thai democracy resembles these images—fragile, sensitive, and dreamlike. It is easily interfered with and prone to failure. Ultimately, it forces the people to rise up and smack the back of the television to make the picture watchable again.

1PROJECTS organises Asian contemporary art projects and seeks to promote and support emerging Asian contemporary artists locally and internationally at art fairs, overseas galleries and alternative spaces. Previous projects include gallery and artist studio visits, and projects for hotels and private overseas collectors. 1PROJECTS covers all aspects from art advisory and sourcing works for collections to commissioning, project management and installation coordination.

1PROJECTS has shown works by emerging young Thai and other Southeast Asian artists in Thailand and overseas. Among many others, it has presented established artists such as Dusadee Hentrakul (TH), Tawan Wattuya (TH), Richard Streitmatter-Tran (VN) and Imhathai Suwatthanasilp (TH), as well as promising emerging Thai artists such as Pannaphan Yodmanee (TH) and Naraphat Sakarthonsap (TH). It has also been invited to Art Week Conversations in Singapore as a panel speaker and has participated in art fairs around the region.

‘Delusional’ is the third joint presentation between 1PROJECTS and West Eden, following ‘Chronoscapes’ in 2025 and ‘ANTHROPOCENE’ in 2024.