Pannaphan Yodmanee
b. 1988, currently lives and works in Nakhon Si Thammarat, Thailand
Pannaphan Yodmanee combines found objects, natural elements such as rocks and minerals, and painted elements that recall traditional Thai art and architecture. The artist examines the relevance of Buddhist philosophy to our lives. Through her works, she explores Buddhist philosophy and cosmology. Utilising a combination of raw, natural materials with found objects of contemporary origin, her works imbue the painted designs and motifs endemic to traditional Thai art with the universal and persistent themes of loss, suffering, devastation, and the karmic cycles of death and rebirth.
Pannaphan Yodmanee has widely exhibited her work and attend international art events including the She POSSIBLE International Women’s Day (2023), Art collection in Soho house Bangkok (2023), PARADISE Lost BACC Bangkok(2023), Art Basel Hong Kong (2022), Art Macao (2021). Yodmanee received numerous awards such as 1st Prize, Bualuang Gold Medal, The 35th Thai Traditional Painting Awards (2013), as well as the 1st Prize of the 1st and the 2nd Young Thai Artist Awards (2006, 2007). In 2016, Pannaphan Yodmanee also won the prestigious 11th Benesse Prize.
Cosmic Mother of the Universe
The Cosmic Mother of the Universe explores the possibilities of history and the future, drawing from cosmology in Buddhism and Brahmanic-Hindu traditions—such as depictions of the Traiphum (Three Worlds) and the origin of humankind from the feminine. It intertwines beliefs and rituals from both East and West, reflecting on the human mind and body as inseparably fused, situated within a continuum of history that flows into the present.
I compare the genesis of the cosmos to the maternal womb—the cradle of human life. The forms of stone are likened to the womb itself, marked by traces of pain, burden, and the weight carried by gendered existence.
Cosmic Mother of the Universe I (2025)
Dyed vegetable-tanned leather upholstery on fiberglass, concrete, steel
183 × 55 × 43 cm.
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Cosmic Mother of the Universe II (2025)
Dyed vegetable-tanned leather upholstery on fiberglass, concrete, steel
180 × 55 × 40 cm.
Cosmic Mother of the Universe III (2025)
Dyed vegetable-tanned leather upholstery on fiberglass, concrete, steel
205 × 50 × 50 cm.
Cosmic Mother of the Universe IV (2025)
Dyed vegetable-tanned leather upholstery on fiberglass, concrete, steel
205 × 55 × 40 cm.
Cosmic Mother of the Universe V (2025)
Dyed vegetable-tanned leather upholstery on fiberglass, concrete, steel
205 × 40 × 40 cm.