Womanifesto: A Biennial Art Exchange in Thailand

“In the midst of the biennale craze, what is your take on the possibility of having one in Thailand?” I was asked in an interview for DIAAALOGUE, Asia Art Archive’s newsletter (January 2009). My response was: “There has been a biennale in Thailand since 1997—Womanifesto. I don’t think that has even registered in people’s minds [...] and way before this current ‘biennale craze’ took hold”.1 In the same interview, I was also asked whether the art world still regarded women artists as “mere dabblers” and if this was still a common perception, particularly in Asia. I indicated how much remains to be done for women artists in the region, as well as the unwillingness to investigate the realities of what it means to be both women and artists. And if this is seen as dabbling, then surely it’s a good thing, for from 1997 to 2008 Womanifesto fostered creative connections locally and with the wider world, successfully foregrounding the creative struggle that comes from within women. In 1995, when Womanifesto was conceived, I had just moved from India and started to live in Bangkok. Not knowing anyone and wanting to connect with artists and find a studio space to work in, I made my way to the printmaking department of Chulalongkorn University’s Faculty of Fine Arts and was accepted as a visiting artist, where I continued exploring working with etching, lithography and other forms of print-making. I was soon told about