Jiab is a contemporary figurative artist. Her work is concerned with identity, and the revelations that can be revealed through rigorous observation. Identity is at the heart of every person. As it manifests as a persona it becomes - defined by the history of our own five basic senses. Our identity is dictated to us from the moment we are born. But as we grow up, identity is what we actually ‘'choose'’ to be . Jiab is interested in those small details, and is keen to document within her paintings the individual identities of the people she meets, the places she lives and the souvenirs of moments in time.

Jiab was born in Nakhon Phanom, a town in northeastern Thailand. After a quiet childhood she moved to Bangkok to study Filmography at Thammasat University. Graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in Journalism she worked for three years as a Casting Coordinator at Big Blue Production Bangkok. It was there that she practiced her skills of finding talent for various advertising campaigns. Observing people and seeking for the right moment of expression was her expertise. It is those experiences that exert a great influence on her works until today.

After moving to London in 2007 Jiab was so inspired by David Hockney’s exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery that she decided to start her career as a self-taught artist in the field of contemporary portrait painting

While developing her art, Jiab moved to Berlin in 2009 and started her local brand designing fashionable products based on her own artwork. There in Berlin she met her artist friends and her sitters whom greatly influenced her works and redirected her back to her own identity as an Asian artist living outside of her home country.

In 2020, Jiab won the BP Portrait Award at the National Portrait Gallery, London. She now lives and works in Vannes, France where she continues to explore and develop her artwork focusing on questioning the boundaries between her human experiences, the Asian identity and her own identity. Her work is in the collections of the SFMOMA, North Carolina Museum of Art, Walker Art Center, ICA Miami, Long Museum Shanghai, Cantor Arts Center Stanford University, and Aïshti Foundation.

Jiab is represented by

Timothy Taylor

Micki Meng



Contact Jiab at

e_letter@jiabprachakul.com

(Photograph by Guillaume Bouzige)