Atittayaporn Saenpo (Ammie)

I was finishing a coffee at MAIELIE, waiting for the rest of the KULTX team to arrive. Ammie, one of its younger members, was already there, so I asked whether she would like a few portraits for her profile.

She led me across the road into Bueng Kaen Nakhon Park, a place she liked for its flowers. As I photographed her, she repeated gestures from Remind Me Of You, a performance combining bougainvillea with fragments of family history, including the story of her grandfather, who fought in the Vietnam War.

Ammie grew up in rural Roi Et. Her grandparents performed Mor Lam, while her father, an English teacher, loved art and design. With little access to contemporary art, her first steps were largely self-taught, experimenting with Microsoft Paint before moving to Bangkok to study sculpture. There, she sometimes felt less capable because she came from Isan. It was only when the pandemic brought her home that she began to see this feeling as structural: art education, institutions and opportunities were concentrated in Bangkok.

Joining KULTX through its Gold Rush residency in 2022 showed her that an artistic life could also be built in Isan. She later returned as an artist assistant and member of the team, describing KULTX as another kind of art school. The collective offers her a space to learn through experience, make mistakes and connect with artists beyond the region.

Her practice examines the social structures people learn to accept as normal, from poorly constructed rural roads and top-down agricultural policies to overlooked family histories. Working across performance, video, installation and sculpture, she uses art to make these structures visible rather than provide simple answers.

At the centre of her work lies a paradox: Isan has a vibrant culture that deserves greater recognition, yet its artists receive little support in a system that remains heavily centralised. This leaves Ammie with one question: “How can I create the conditions that allow me to continue making art here?”