During the Covid-19 lockdown, Jarupatcha Achavasmit, a lecturer at the School of Architecture, Art, and Design at King Mongkut Institute of Technology Ladkrabang, spent her time in Hua Hin. While walking along the beaches, she noticed that the waves were washing up trash. She assumed that it was the way the sea returned unwanted items to humans. She felt sorry for the sea and decided to help it by turning the trash it spat back at humans into art pieces.
"After those days at the beach, I decided to create art for the environment. Since I can transform various materials into art, I would transform waste into artworks. This gives the waste a chance to be beautiful and valuable. I love creating art, and I believe this is my way of contributing to the world," said Jarupatcha.
In collaboration with The Peninsula Bangkok and UOB Thailand, Jarupatcha presents her latest art exhibition, "Sanctuary Within", which blends her artistic talent and environmental consciousness through the medium of recycled materials. "Sanctuary Within" is a result of Jarupatcha's three-month residency at The Peninsula Bangkok where discarded items from the hotel were transformed into exceptional art pieces.
"When I was invited to participate in the Art in Resonance programme at The Peninsula Bangkok, I immediately agreed because I realised that working with organisations can have a huge impact since they involve many people, including employees, guests and business stakeholders," explained Jarupatcha.
"Sanctuary Within" features three installations, Floating Forest, Cotton Field and Paper Sky, on display in the main lobby area. These installations were created from four types of recycled materials gathered from the hotel: aluminium containers, Egyptian cotton bed linen, office paper and food waste.
Floating Forest was woven using over 12,000 recycled toiletry containers.
Floating Forest appears as glittering, silvery ginkgo leaves. These floating sculptures were woven from over 12,000 recycled toiletry containers. Aluminium was the first material that inspired Jarupatcha to create the exhibition.
"Instead of using plastic amenity containers, The Peninsula Bangkok uses aluminium because it can be completely recycled. About 1,200 amenity containers are used in a week. During the New Year holidays, I spent a lot of time figuring how to transform containers into artwork," explained Jarupatcha.
"After cleaning a container, I flattened it and cut it into zig zag strips. As a textile artist, I recognised its potential for weaving. I named this art piece Floating Forest because I believe forests can grow anywhere and I grew mine in the hotel."
Situated above the entrance, Cotton Field is a colourful woven fabric installation made from Egyptian cotton bed linen. All used bed linen was dyed with natural colours made from flowers, leftover fruits and vegetables. The final piece, Paper Sky, was created from 100kg of used office paper. The paper was shredded and recycled into new paper, incorporating 50% bamboo fibres. The new paper was woven and coloured with natural dyes from food.
Floating Forest at 'Sanctuary Within'.
"To extract pigments from fruits and vegetables, different methods are used depending on the materials. For butterfly pea, simply soak the material in plain water for one to two nights. The resulting colour from butterfly pea is purple," said Jarupatcha.
"Other fruits and vegetables should be boiled to extract pigments. Once the pigment separates from the fibre, filter only the pigment. Onion peel can yield a range of colours including brown, yellow, orange and grey. Colour shades are based on the materials used for mixing. For example, mixing onion peels with ash can produce a grey colour," she said.
The transformation of discarded materials into artistic installations demonstrates impressive creativity driven by environmental consciousness. This requires knowledge of recycling materials which is an expertise that Jarupatcha developed through her sustainability textile studies at KTMIL, the University of Michigan Ann Arbor in the United States, and Central Saint Martins in London.
While viewers are impressed with the creative transformation, Jarupatcha points out that in this project, the final creations are not as important as the process.
"A key part of the project was for the involved hotel staff to understand the recycling process. Initially, they did not understand our goals. After I stayed at the hotel for a while, I organised a studio visit allowing 100 housekeepers to witness how I created art pieces from recycled materials. Previously, the housekeepers sent me bed linen with very small stains. However, after seeing me transform torn bed linen into woven artworks, they began sending me used bed sheets with large tears," she said.
Cotton Field was woven from used bed linen dyed with natural colours.
"The studio visit created a sense of pride among the housekeepers. They no longer felt like they work with discarded materials, but rather with valuable materials that can be transformed into beautiful pieces of art. Some of them told me that they felt proud of themselves when they saw materials that they supplied become beautiful art."
In addition to hotel employees, guests also had an opportunity to participate in the project through a workshop. Jarupatcha brought her weaving machine to the hotel and allowed interested guests to sign up for a weaving session using recycled materials.
"I would like to let other people know what I did during my stay at the hotel. Since environmental issues affect everyone, I wanted to establish a connection with other people. Guests at The Peninsula Bangkok were professionals and entrepreneurs who could potentially use their influence and resources to promote environmentally-friendly practices in their businesses. During the workshop, I explained to guests where the weaving and art materials came from. Since they stayed in the hotel, they understood the process. Their creations were showcased as part of 'Sanctuary Within', " said Jarupatcha.
Cotton Field at 'Sanctury Within'.
As an environmentalist, Jarupatcha surprisingly holds a positive outlook on the global warming issue. She believes nature strives to maintain a balance.
"People who work in the environmental field cannot be negative because it can be discouraging. Nature has a certain degree of tolerance. It will nurture and heal itself until it reaches a breaking point. If we are still here, we can solve the issues. During my three-month residency at The Peninsula Bangkok, many people became more aware of environmental issues. If this story is released through the media, environmental awareness will increase," said Jarupatcha.
"The exhibition will run until the end of August. I do not want people to feel intimidated to come to a 5-star hotel because it is a public space where everyone has the right to enter. I also hope the media will spread awareness about environmental issues and recycling. The before and after photos of the exhibition are crucial. When people see these photos, they will understand how the second life of the used material is better than the first one."
"Sanctuary Within" runs at The Peninsula Bangkok, Charoen Nakhon Road, until Saturday. Admission is free. For more information, visit instagram.com/jarupatcha.
Paper Sky was created from used office paper.
Used aluminium amenity containers.
Natural dye was made from flowers and leftover fruits.
Jarupatcha Achavasmit with Paper Sky.
Jarupatcha Achavasmit weaving recycled materials for 'Sanctuary Within'.
