In Conversation: Jakkai Siributr and Amy George
Saturday, January 31, 2026, 2–3pmOn the occasion of artist Jakkai Siributr’s first solo exhibition in the United States, There’s no Place (on view at Canal Projects Jan 30 – May 23, 2026), please join us for a conversation between artist Jakkai Siributr and Curator at The Whitworth Amy George. The conversation will navigate the interweaving of personal storytelling with Thailand’s socio-political histories explored in the exhibited textile works, with special focus on the artist’s ongoing collaborative embroidery project that anchors and shares the same name as the exhibition.
Jakkai Siributr lives in Bangkok, Thailand, and is one of Southeast Asia’s leading contemporary artists, working primarily in the textile medium. He is known for his intricately handmade tapestries, quilts and installations, which convey powerful responses to contemporary and historical societal issues in Thailand.
Siributr studied Textile and Fine Arts at Indiana University, Bloomington, USA, and Printed Textile Design, at Philadelphia University, USA. He has exhibited widely, with notable exhibitions including Phantoms of Asia: Contemporary Awakens the Past, Asian Art Museum of San Francisco, California, USA (2012); Exploring the Cosmos: The Stupa as a Buddhist Symbol, Asian Civilizations Museum, Singapore (2013); Displaced: The Politics of Ethnicity and Religion in the Art of Jakkai Siributr, Bangkok Art and Culture Centre, Bangkok, Thailand (2017); Dhaka Art Summit, Bangladesh Shilpakala Academy, Bangladesh (2018); Spectrosynthesis II, Bangkok Art and Culture Centre, Bangkok, Thailand (2019); Garmenting: Costume as Contemporary Art, Museum of Arts and Design, New York, USA (2022); Matrilineal, a solo exhibition at 100 Tonson Foundation, Bangkok (2023-2024), Everybody Wanna Be Happy, CHAT, Hong Kong (2023-2024) and participation in the 15th Gwangju Biennale (2024) in the Thailand Pavilion.
In November 2024, Siributr’s exhibition There’s no Place at the Whitworth Art Gallery, Manchester, surveyed his practice and transformed one of the Whitworth’s core collection galleries into the latest iteration of the artist’s long-term project There’s no Place. Exploring ideas of home and belonging, this collaborative embroidery piece creates an ongoing dialogue between the artist, the community of Koung Jor Shan Refugee Camp and viewers around the world. There’s no Place was featured in The Spirits of Maritime Crossing, presented by the Bangkok Art Biennale as an Official Collateral Event at the 2024 Venice Biennale.
In 2025, his work has been shown in All Directions: Art That Moves You, the inaugural exhibition of the FENIX museum, the Netherlands; in the 2025 London Design Festival at the V&A museum, UK; in the 2025 Setouchi Triennale, Japan. Siributr was an honouree of the 2025 Hirshhorn and Smithsonian, Arttist x Artist Gala in New York.
Amy George is Senior Curator of Collections, Textiles & Wallpaper at the Whitworth, University of Manchester. Her curatorial expertise spans ancient Andean textiles, textiles from South Asia, mid-century wallpaper, and contemporary practice. She has curated exhibitions, published research, and presented internationally, and recently led the acquisition of the ABC Wax archive - the UK’s largest surviving complete textile design archive. Amy’s practice combines art and design history with social narratives, using material culture and textile archives to engage diverse audiences and reframe museum collections for the present.
