หลับสิ่ง (Lab sing) - Swatchrokorn Wannasorn
By Chomtawan Kleuntanom / 2025
Displacement and Suspicion of Belonging
Nationalism can be understood as a powerful assertion of belonging anchored in a specific place, shared heritage, and collective identity. It functions simultaneously on individual and communal levels, shaping how people conceive of themselves in relation to a larger national narrative. As a cultural and political construct, nationalism not only fosters a sense of unity but also delineates the boundaries of inclusion and identity, prompting individuals to define themselves through the lens of national affiliation and shared memory.
National identity, while offering a framework for belonging, is not without its complexities and contradictions. It is often shaped by forces beyond the control of ordinary citizens, subject to the decisions of political elites and dominant powers. In many historical and contemporary contexts, the fate of the nation is determined by those in positions of authority, while the broader population must contend with the consequences. The dynamic exposes the tensions between imposed narratives and lived realities, revealing how national identity can be both a source of pride and a site of struggle especially when shaped by displacement and marginalisation.
As the broader population bears the consequences both beneficial and detrimental of decisions made by those in power, a fundamental question inevitably emerges: Should the power of a nation be constituted by the will of its people? The question invites a critical reflection on the nature of sovereignty, participation, and democratic legitimacy. It challenges the notion of top-down authority by emphasizing the role of collective agency in shaping national destiny. In doing so, it reframes national identity not as a static inheritance but as a dynamic and contested space, constantly negotiated between those who govern and those who are governed.
Canonical history, often shaped by dominant narratives, can be one of the most enduring consequences faced by minorities and displaced populations. As histories are formalized and institutionalized, the experiences of refugees and marginalized groups are frequently omitted or silenced. The loss of home and belonging fractures the intimate ties to land, community, and environment disrupting the spatial and cultural foundations that root identity. The dislocation is compounded by the interruption of language, oral traditions, and ritual practices, which are essential to the transmission of cultural memory across generations.
When these expressive forms are lost or actively suppressed, entire cultural legacies risk erasure. The loss of political identity through statelessness, forced migration, or systemic exclusion further marginalizes individuals, rendering them invisible within national frameworks. Deprived of citizenship and legal recognition, displaced persons are often excluded from the protections, rights, and historical narratives that define political belonging and public legitimacy. In this way, canonical history not only reflects power dynamics but also actively reinforces them by determining whose stories are remembered and whose are forgotten.
Refugees, often cast as cultural outsiders, live in a persistent state of estrangement not simply from place, but from systems of meaning and belonging. Their difference becomes both a burden and a form of agency: a visible marker of dislocation that is sometimes wielded defensively, almost defiantly, as a means of preserving selfhood. The condition can be likened to orphanhood, a sense of being severed not only from homeland but from the continuity of social and historical roots.
In contrast, the refugee’s relationship to difference is charged with urgency. Clutching their distinctiveness as both shield and protest, the displaced individual may assert the right not to assimilate, resisting pressures to conform to new cultural norms. Refugees become a state of being, but also a stance a refusal to forget, to belong, or to be absorbed into dominant narratives.
Twilight over Burma
The political trajectory of post-independence Burma (now Myanmar) was marked by intense military tensions and unresolved ethnic divisions. Following World War II and the subsequent wave of anti-colonial resistance, a series of uprisings by ethnic minorities erupted across Burma in 1948, as various groups Shan, Karen, Mon, and others demanded autonomy and recognition in the newly forming state. Amid this volatile environment, General Ne Win emerged as a dominant figure within the Burmese military establishment, playing a pivotal role in the country’s transition from colonial rule to independence from Britain in 1948. By 1958, amid deepening political fragmentation, Prime Minister U Nu Burma’s first democratically elected leader invited Ne Win to serve as interim prime minister, seeking to stabilise the government.
Although U Nu returned to power following democratic elections in 1960 during the brief parliamentary democracy period, his administration faced mounting challenges. The Anti-Fascist People's Freedom League (AFPFL), under which U Nu governed, struggled to manage internal divisions and ongoing conflicts with ethnic minority groups, many of whom were pressing for federal autonomy in accordance with the principles outlined in the 1947 Panglong Agreement. This agreement had symbolized a hopeful moment in Southeast Asian politics, as it proposed a multiethnic federal union grounded in democratic principles.
However, these federal aspirations became the pretext for Ne Win’s military coup in 1962. Citing the threat of national fragmentation and instability under civilian rule, Ne Win and the Burmese military dismantled the democratic government, abolishing the constitution, dissolving all political parties, and disbanding the national parliament. In its place, Ne Win established the Revolutionary Council—a centralized military regime devoid of electoral processes or constitutional checks.
Under his rule, Burma entered a prolonged period of authoritarianism framed ideologically as “Burmese-style socialism,” a fusion of Marxist-Leninist principles with Buddhist nationalism. This system was institutionalized through the creation of a single-party state led by the Burma Socialist Program Party (BSPP). The regime was characterized by widespread political repression, the suppression of dissent, and the violent elimination of opposition figures. The 1962 coup thus marked a dramatic rupture in Burma’s democratic experiment and the systematic erasure of federalist aspirations among its ethnic minorities, setting the stage for decades of authoritarian rule and ethnic conflict.
General Ne Win's consolidation of power following the 1962 coup was marked by systematic repression and the silencing of political dissent. Opponents of the regime often disappeared under mysterious circumstances one such case being Prince Ja Seng, a prominent ruler in Shan State, whose fate is documented in Twilight over Burma. In another chilling episode, Sao Mya Theik, the son of former Prime Minister U Nu, was reportedly executed after publicly criticising the regime. These acts of targeted violence underscore the authoritarian nature of Ne Win's military government and its intolerance for opposition.
In the aftermath of the coup, the central government, led by Ne Win, extended its control into ethnic minority territories, implementing strict measures to suppress any form of resistance. Freedoms of speech, press, political assembly, and movement were sharply curtailed. Media outlets were brought under state control, dissent was criminalized, and surveillance intensified across the country. These repressive policies particularly in ethnic regions triggered a new wave of resistance, leading to sustained uprisings by various ethnic groups. The state's attempts to impose centralised authority not only deepened political fractures but also catalysed decades-long armed conflicts that continue to shape the sociopolitical landscape of Myanmar today.
Tagging the ‘Kwan’ with Swatchrokorn Wannasorn
Swatchrokorn Wannasorn’s artistic practice is deeply rooted in historical narrative, spanning from accounts of political power to the vernacular folklore of his native northern Thailand. Informed by his Shan-Thai heritage, the artist engages with the layered relationships between humans and other entities figures and forces often relegated to the periphery of dominant cultural discourses. His work navigates the porous boundaries between the seen and unseen, the real and imagined, challenging the binary distinctions imposed by mainstream histories.
Guided by a methodological curiosity, Wannasorn reinterprets these entanglements through a visual lexicon that draws upon collective memory and cultural symbolism. By doing so, he seeks to interrogate inherited worldviews and also to evoke a deeper sensibility toward shared existence. His practice ultimately gestures toward a vision of interconnectedness, inviting us to reconsider the boundaries of humanity, belonging, and belief.
In this series, Swatchrokorn Wannasorn turns inward to examine the personal dimensions of his Shan-Thai heritage, guided by the memory of his grandmother, Ui Yot, a refugee from Mueang Pan in Shan State, Burma. Drawing upon a true account of her migration across the borderlands between Shan State and Mae Hong Son, the artist engages with oral histories passed down to him. The exploration becomes both an act of remembrance and a critical inquiry into the interwoven layers of familial narrative, displacement, and identity. Wannasorn embarks on a broader investigation into the intersections of individual and collective memory within the context of diasporic experience.
Against the backdrop of mainstream historical narratives that center on the conflict between the Burmese state and ethnic minorities, Swatchrokorn Wannasorn’s work seeks into the lesser-known, non-mainstream histories those carried through oral traditions rather than written records. His focus lies with the experiences of common people: individuals whose lives have been excluded from official accounts, yet who bore the brunt of the violence and upheaval.
Drawing from the Shan State, Burma conflict of the 1970s-1980s, the artist reflects on a period marked by acute resource shortages, exacerbated by the military’s appropriation of local provisions. Within this context of systemic oppression and militarised control, he reflects on the harrowing experiences of villagers stories of survival amid the brutalities of war. These include accounts of violence against women, forced displacement, and mass killings traumas often silenced or denied in state-sanctioned histories.
Within the context of this exhibition, Swatchrokorn Wannasorn interrogates the complexities of coexistence between Thai nationals and ethnic minorities, an uneasy unity often circumscribed by the geopolitical borders of the nation-state. These boundaries, both physical and ideological, are enduring legacies of colonial and postcolonial statecraft, shaping perceptions of belonging and cultural legitimacy. Through his inquiry, the artist questions how these constructs have influenced interethnic relations and contributed to the marginalisation of minority identities.
Throughout the exhibition it is also central to the role of shared folklore, a cultural thread that binds communities across borders despite national divisions. Wannasorn draws upon regional narratives such as the tale of Phranang Yi Saeng Kor (พระนางญี่แสงก่อ) from Mueang Pan, Shan State, a story believed to have inspired the well-known Thai folklore of Pla Bu Thong (ปลาบู่ทอง). By reappropriating such narratives, the artist traces cultural continuities between Thailand and Shan State and reclaims and recontextualises them as part of his own ancestral lineage.
Somnia of the immigration
The exhibition centres on themes of migration, survival, and the preservation of ethnic identity in marginalised borderland communities, as seen through the recollections and oral narratives of Ui Yot, the artist’s grandmother. Swatchrokorn Wannasorn, who never directly witnessed these events, engages with his heritage through second-hand memory: stories recounted at the dinner table, absent of visual documentation or formal historical record. In response, the artist adopts a conceptual framework of obstructed visibility, a visual strategy that mirrors the fragmented, elusive nature of memory itself.
The exhibition design deliberately explores what the artist refers to as “the imperfection of memory” and “the imperfection of state control”, two forces shaped by the ruptures of migration and the unstable terrains of identity. With no photographs or archival materials to rely on, only an alien registration card belonging to his grandmother, mother, and aunt, Wannasorn reconstructs a world formed from gaps, silences, and voices long carried through oral tradition.
Rather than filling in these absences, the exhibition embraces them. It renders ‘invisibility’ not as a void, but as a generative space, an invitation for us to engage imaginatively with spatially dissociated histories and to confront the ambiguities of undocumented lives.
หลับสิ่ง (Lab-sing)
หลับสิ่ง (Lab-sing) explores the reimagining of oral history through the eyes and memories of Ui Yot, the artist's grandmother, a Shan refugee who fled to Thailand during the 1980s. In this deeply personal exhibition, artist Swatchrokorn Wannasorn penetrates into the concept of migration, survival, and cultural preservation through a narrative shaped by Ui Yot’s lived experiences.
Drawing from family histories and ancestral memory, Wannasorn traces the journey of Ui Yot from Mueang Pan in Shan State, Burma, to the borderlands of northern Thailand. Her storytelling becomes a vessel through which the voices, traditions, and traumas of a displaced community are carried forward. Through a multi-layered visual language, the artist reflects on the impact of war, political unrest, forced migration, and the enduring efforts of ethnic minorities to sustain identity in unfamiliar lands.