Jakkai Siributr to Present First Solo Institutional Exhibition in Italy

Flowers Gallery has announced the first solo institutional exhibition in Italy for Thai artist Jakkai Siributr. The exhibition, titled Cultura (im)materiale, is curated by Veronica Caciolli and Valentina Gensini. The presentation will be split between two venues in Florence: Murate Art District and the Museum of Anthropology and Ethnology.

The exhibition serves as a survey of the artist’s narrative textile works and features intricate embroidery transformed into monumental installations. A central component of the presentation involves collective embroideries and handcrafts that were developed through workshops and dialogues with local women. This process intertwines Thai traditions with the women of the Tuscan region.

Siributr collaborated with local women’s communities with migratory backgrounds from Nosotras and Casa delle Donne. The artist also worked with artisans involved in the Comune di Barberino Tavarnelle project. This project is dedicated to passing on the traditional “Punto Tavarnelle” embroidery technique through the intergenerational transmission of artisanal knowledge.

The exhibition will also include an iteration of There’s no Place. This is an ongoing, long-term collaborative embroidery project that creates cross-border dialogues between the displaced ethnic Shan communities at Thailand’s Koung Jor Shan Refugee Camp and viewers around the world.

In collaboration with the Museum of Anthropology and Ethnology – University Museum System, Jakkai Siributr was invited to engage with the figure of Galileo Chini (1873-1956). Chini was a Tuscan artist, decorator, and ceramist who lived for a long period in the East, where he produced several major public works, including the frescoes for the Ananta Samakhom Throne Hall in Bangkok.

Part of Chini’s Siamese collection, which was donated by the artist himself, is on display in the room. Siributr is presenting a new site-specific garment inspired by Chini’s collection, shown alongside a section of his work Transient Shelter (2014). This piece reflects on the relationship between life and death, the reversal of values, and the tension between matter and spirit. For the occasion, the museum has partially reinstalled the room with new works from the Chini Collection.

Through these shared processes, the exhibition aims to weave together the stories of women and communities, the legacy of Chini, and the contributions of students and visitors. It is intended to construct a dialogue of sensitivity, memory, and imagination, moving between the material and immaterial, the individual and the collective.

About the Artist

Jakkai Siributr (b. 1969) lives in Bangkok, Thailand, and is recognized as one of Southeast Asia’s leading contemporary artists. He works primarily in the textile medium and is known for his intricately handmade tapestries, quilts, and installations. His work conveys powerful responses to contemporary and historical societal issues in Thailand and beyond. Siributr studied Textile and Fine Arts at Indiana University, Bloomington, USA, and Printed Textile Design at Philadelphia University, USA.

Siributr has exhibited widely. Notable exhibitions include Phantoms of Asia: Contemporary Awakens the Past at the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco, California, USA (2012); Exploring the Cosmos: The Stupa as a Buddhist Symbol at the Asian Civilizations Museum, Singapore (2013); Displaced: The Politics of Ethnicity and Religion in the Art of Jakkai Siributr at the Bangkok Art and Culture Centre, Thailand (2017); the Dhaka Art Summit in Bangladesh (2018); and Spectrosynthesis II at the Bangkok Art and Culture Centre (2019).

More recently, his work appeared in Garmenting: Costume as Contemporary Art at the Museum of Arts and Design, New York, USA (2022); Matrilineal, a solo exhibition at 100 Tonson Foundation, Bangkok (2023-2024); Everybody Wanna Be Happy at CHAT, Hong Kong (2023-2024); and in the Thailand Pavilion at the 15th Gwangju Biennale (2024).

In November 2024, his exhibition There’s no Place at the Whitworth Art Gallery, Manchester, surveyed his practice and featured the latest iteration of his long-term project. There’s no Place was also 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 in the Netherlands; the London Design Festival at the Victoria and Albert Museum, London; and the Setouchi Triennale, Japan. In November 2025, Siributr was honored at the Hirshhorn New York Artist x Artist Gala, and he will present a solo exhibition at Canal Projects in New York in early 2026.

Exhibition Information

Exhibition: Jakkai Siributr Cultura (im)materiale
Venues: MAD Murate Art District and the Museum of Anthropology and Ethnography, Florence
Contact: press@flowersgallery.com / T +44 (0)20 743 7766
Dates: 23 October 2025 – 18 January 2026