Self-taught artist Jiab Prachakul has won the BP Portrait Award with her depiction of two people in a bar in Berlin.
The Thai painter’s work was selected from 1,981 entries across 69 countries and is now on display in London’s National Portrait Gallery online exhibition, while the building remains closed due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Dr Nicholas Cullinan, National Portrait Gallery director and part of the judging panel, said: “Many people are turning to art and, in particular, portraiture during these challenging times and I am delighted that we are able to share some of the very best examples of contemporary portrait practice from artists across the world with audiences at home through our online exhibition.”
Born in Thailand in 1979, Ms Prachakul originally studied filmography at Thammasat University going on to work as a casting director at a Bangkok production company.
Turning to art
She relocated to London in 2006 where a David Hockney retrospective at the National Portrait Gallery gave her an ‘instant realisation’ she wanted to be an artist.
In 2008, she moved to Berlin, began selling her paintings at a local flea market and launched an online fashion brand based on her artworks.
The acrylic on canvas work, entitled Night Talk, portrays her friends Jeonga Choi, a designer from Korea, and Makoto Sakamoto, a composer from Japan, in a Berlin bar on an autumn evening.
It has won her a £35,000 prize and a commission, at the National Portrait Gallery Trustees’ discretion, worth £7,000.
According to Ms Prachakul, it explores the notions of individual identity and how perceptions of selfhood can change over time.
“Our identity is dictated to us from the moment we are born, but as we grow up, identity is what we actually choose to be,’ she said.
We are defined in later life by our choice of friends, she claims.
“I do believe that our circle of friends is what makes us who we are”, she added, “Jeonga and Makoto are like family to me.
“We are all outsiders, Asian artists living abroad, and their deep friendship has offered me a ground on where I can stand and embrace my own identity.”
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