Arunkamon Thongmon: Life, Memory, and the Afterlives of Industrial Remnants

In today’s world, where industrial machines tirelessly churn out products, countless objects are used only briefly before being discarded and left behind as scraps, fragments, or remnants of memory. While many may see these objects as nothing more than useless leftovers stripped of value, Thai female artist Arunkamon Thongmon views them in a different light.

Arunkamon Thongmon is a Thai female artist who works with mixed-media sculpture, using discarded materials from industrial processes to create artworks that allow these objects to tell their own stories. Through diverse geometric forms combined with the meticulous techniques of origami folding, her works not only challenge the structures of industrial production systems but also open up spaces for healing, restoration, and reconciliation between humans, machines, and the memories that may linger within those remnants. 

This concept is clearly reflected in Arunkamon’s works presented in Chronoscapes, an exhibition featuring three Thai artists—Arunkamon Thongmon, Kamthorn Paowattanasuk, and Pachara Piyasongsoot—organized in collaboration between West Eden and 1PROJECTS. Arunkamon conveys the idea that every object or material carries its own life cycle, beginning with its production, followed by its use and function, and ultimately its abandonment. Once a material reaches the state of being ‘industrially obsolete,’ it nonetheless bears physical traces that speak profoundly of its experiences. Dents, scratches, distortions, and fractures become a language of their own, narrating its past, its memories, and the journey it has undergone.

How did you enter the art world?

 It began with a desire to continue making art after graduation, along with inspiration from the people around me. My teachers, friends, and siblings were all involved in this field, offering encouragement, advice, and support from my student years up until now.

The starting point in creating art

I have had a passion and a strong ability in this field since elementary school. I entered high school through an art quota program and set a life goal to pursue art seriously at the undergraduate and graduate levels. As a result, I have continued working in art and becoming an independent artist. Now, I am a full-time lecturer, and in my free time I still continue to create art.

What inspires most of your works?

They are drawn from abstract ideas that emerge through the imagination inspired by the forms of objects.

Do you think “materials have life and memory”? And how can we perceive it?

I believe that every object or material has its own life cycle: it is produced, it fulfills its function through use, and eventually it reaches the end of its utility. In this sense, each object carries its own timeline. We can perceive this through its physical characteristics and the traces left by use: dents, scratches, dullness, fractures. These marks form a kind of language through which the material communicates its story to us.

The challenge of using origami techniques with rigid materials like metal

At first, I felt it was difficult, but I also saw it as a challenge to try something new. For me, it became enjoyable to explore new methods and study the possibilities until I realized it could be done. I also discovered that origami techniques gradually changed me: they made me more methodical, more focused on a single task, and more attentive to my own sense of concentration.

Introducing the works presented in the exhibition Chronoscapes

The works in this exhibition include creations and sketches from 2018 to 2025. There are two-dimensional sketches as well as early experiments using small discarded materials, leading up to larger single-object sculptures and complete sets. The works can be seen as divided into three major phases of my artistic journey: the beginning, when I first started working with leftover materials; the stage of development and refinement; and the present. In the early works there is a sense of playfulness and discovery, like pieces that grew up alongside me. By contrast, the more recent works reveal a seriousness and maturity that clearly distinguish them from the earlier phase.

Dialogue of Objects No.2, 2024

Is there a particular work you feel especially connected to?

The work I feel most connected to is the piece with drawers, Space of Memory. It is special because it was the series in which I first began learning origami folding techniques. I enjoyed experimenting with something I had never done before, combining different kinds of materials and exploring the possibilities of creating illusions of physical dimensions. That experience became the starting point of my artistic practice and continues to shape my work today.

Space of Memory No,1, 2029 

 

 

What would you like the audience to take away from your work?

I want viewers to use their imagination and allow my work to connect with their own senses, experiences, or memories. My art is created to communicate; it is not meant to be displayed passively. I want it to reach the audience and spark reflection, curiosity, or even new conversations—between the viewer and the work, or between the viewer and the artist. For example, some people wonder about the materials, while others say my work reminds them of music without lyrics, or of a place they once visited. Some even change their perception immediately when they learn what the materials really are. These exchanges and shared experiences are what I hope for: the work does not end once it is placed on display, but continues to communicate something to those who encounter it.

Chronoscapes has now come to a close at West Eden Gallery. We extend our gratitude to everyone who visited, engaged, and shared in the conversations sparked by the works on view. Though the exhibition has ended, the questions it raised continue to resonate: how memory shifts, how perception bends, and how materials and images carry stories of their own. Thank you for being part of this journey and for seeing the world a little differently with us.

 Compiled by Pemika Suyarach

Written by  Napat Tason
Images: West Eden