Parasite Family

PARASITE FAMILY is constructed from old film negatives discovered in an out-of-business film lab. Using analog and digital editing techniques, Prapat Jiwarangsan breathes new energy into these old films. He accompanies them on their journey from the world of analog to the world of digital, and finally to the world of AI-generated images and NFT artworks. Suggesting that these faces represent a certain kind of family that is parasitic on Thai society—the kind of families and institutions that absorb wealth and power—they gradually evolve into a new species of monsters.

Prapat Jiwarangsan is a visual artist and film director from Thailand. In his creative explorations, he usually incorporates a variety of media, especially photography, slides, and videos to investigate and represent the relationships between history, memory, and politics in Thailand—particularly in relation to the theme of migration. Jiwarangsan graduated from the Royal College of Art (RCA) and has spent the last six years researching and making artwork that tackles the issues faced by migrant workers in Southeast Asia. One of the results is PLOY, selected in 2021 for Forum Expanded.

Production Graiwoot Chulphongsathorn. Production company Prapat Jiwarangsan Studio (Bangkok, Thailand). Written and directed by Prapat Jiwarangsan. Editing Prapat Jiwarangsan. Executive producer Graiwoot Chulphongsathorn. 

Films

selection: 2009: Mirror Mask (2 min.). 2010: The Measure of Time (12 min.), Hope to Dwell in Fear (video installation). 2012: I Will Never Smile Again (video installation). 2014: Artists Sick (4 min), In the Asylum Garden (video installation). 2015: Dok-Rak / The Asylum (9 min.). 2016: Aesthetics 101 (3 min.), Dust Under Feet (video installation), Asylum Seeker: The Pond and the Firefly (video installation). 2018: The Wandering Ghosts (20 min.), Destination Nowhere (7 min.). 2019: Nocturnal Flowers (video installation), Non-chronological History (video installation), Aesthetics 101 (video installation). 2020: Ploy (51 min., Forum Expanded 2021). 2021: Parasite Family.