The Thai embassy in Maputo, Mozambique, shares walls with the shantytown of Polana Canico. When artist Jakkai Siributr arrived at the embassy three weeks ago, the dusty enclave became a source of inspiration and expertise for his new project.
Jakkai, whose art pieces often use textiles to comment upon the hard issues of refugees and ethnic prejudice, has been invited by the Thai ambassador to Mozambique, Russ Jalichandra, to stay and work as the embassy's artist in residence. Knowing next to nothing about the African country, Jakkai said he arrived with a few needles and scraps of fabric with the elephant print, "the kind that Western tourists buy as souvenirs", trusting that his improvisational skills and the muse of chance would yield something on the way.
This piece is made from scraps of fabric and decorated by cowrie shells.
"The Thai ambassador and staff at the embassy, which was set up just a few years ago, have a real interest in art and have made contact with artists and musicians in Mozambique," said Jakkai in an email. "Instead of decorating the embassy with generic art pieces -- pictures of lotuses or something of the sort -- they bought works by these artists and give the place character."
Before Jakkai was invited to Maputo, the embassy had already initiated its own art project that deeply involved the participation of locals. To enliven the area neighbourhood, Ambassador Russ and his team asked Mozambican artists to turn the embassy's wall into mosaic art -- a popular technique seen everywhere in the country and a legacy of the Portuguese. Later the project expanded to cover other walls in the shantytown, where local craftsmen designed and completed the works with the help of people in the community.
The artist knew that his piece for the embassy would concern fabric, and the first thing Jakkai did when he arrived in Maputo was to visit a flea market to look for materials. He only knew about Mozambique's colourful cloths called capulana, a kind of African sarong, but in the market he also found knick-knacks such as cowrie shells and black-magic tools that could be used as accessories. Then Jakkai visited the shantytown and found, to his delight, that the place had so many seamstresses working away with their sewing machines.
"It's much cheaper here to have your own clothes made or altered, and second-hand clothes are popular here," he said. "So I asked a local who lives in the shantytown and who also works at the embassy to go around asking for scraps of clothes from the seamstresses. Mozambicans like to dress -- beautiful clothes make them feel good about life. Even in a poor rural area, I see men walking around in suits -- second-hand suits -- walking in the field on their way to church. I think these clothes reflect their stories and their dreams."
The piece Jakkai has created is a large-scale textile work, nearly 3m tall and 2m wide. It was stitched together from scraps of fabric and other vibrant accessories, including an old Thai national flag already retired by the embassy, as well as a Mozambican flag. The whole piece is layered by a plastic fishing net and decorated with cowrie shells.
The finished piece, a team effort by local craftsmen and embassy staff, resembles the flag of Mozambique.
For the project, he has enlisted six members of the embassy's cleaning staff, all university students, while the seamstresses are the wives of embassy chauffeurs, as well as sisters of other staff members.
"I have a big and skilful team to do a big piece," said Jakkai.
Some of Jakkai's earlier works include his large installation piece made up of embroidered cloth with jawi script -- a chilling remembrance of the Tak Bai victims in the South of Thailand. Last year, his exhibition "Displaced" included a work called Outlaw's Flag, an elaborate piece that features 21 fictitious flags, and which he intended as a commentary on the problem of statelessness among the Rohingya people.
His new piece will be permanently exhibited at the Thai embassy in Maputo. If you happen to pass by the eastern coast of Africa, drop in for a look.