Savanhdary Vongpoothorn: All That Arises

Savanhdary Vongpoothorn’s monograph ‘All That Arises’ greets the reader with a sensuous experience; the cover, a lemon curd hue, has punctures that draw your touch to reveal glimmers of the artwork beneath. It’s an apt introduction to, as Terence Maloon, Director of Canberra’s Drill Hall Gallery writes, ‘void-haunted, void fascinated art… dazzling quanta and vibrant fields of energy.’

Chaitanya Sambrani who curated the artist’s survey show at Drill Hall Gallery in 2019 takes us on a journey in the chapters that follow, charting 25 years of Vongpoothorn’s practice thematically. Interspersed among the meditations on her thoughtful approach are reproductions of the finely detailed compositions.

The opening entry on the artist’s early life unpacks her ability to visualise concepts from the Pāli Canon of Theravada Buddhism through a modern, minimalist lens. Her vocabulary has been developed by devotion, osmosis and curiosity in Laos, Australia and the Asia Pacific, inspired by art history and possesses an ongoing interest in the material outcomes of spiritualism. Indeed we finish the book learning about her latest project which takes root in the temple complex of Todai-ji, Nara, Japan.

Circling back, the core text focuses on significant concepts such as ‘Kasina’, the artist’s inner landscape and the world that abounds physically, politically and spiritually, which are enriched by encounters with history, ritual and even braille. What comes to the fore is her interest in communication, its modes, hidden aspects, beauty and metaphysical potential.