Overview
Canal Projects is pleased to present There’s no Place, a solo exhibition of large-scale textile installations by Jakkai Siributr. Bringing together both monumental and intimate hand-stitched works, the exhibition explores Thailand’s political and social histories, personal narratives of grief and remembrance, and the global impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. This presentation at Canal Projects expands upon Siributr’s ongoing investigation into collective storytelling through textile and participation, creating a space where personal and communal histories are interwoven through acts of care and collaboration.
At the center of the exhibition is There’s no Place (2020–present), an ongoing collaborative embroidery project that began in the Koung Jor Shan Refugee Camp on the Thailand–Myanmar border. The project invites participants from around the world to contribute stitched reflections on home, displacement, and belonging. As a collective act of making, There’s no Place builds connections between communities through shared labor, empathy, and storytelling.
Siributr’s practice draws from both private and collective experience, translating contemporary Thai social realities into works that oscillate between personal testimony and historical record. His textile assemblages—often made from uniforms, clothing, and domestic fabrics—become memorials to resilience, protest, and healing.
On view are selections from several major bodies of work, including BC20 (2023), LD20 (2022), and Airborne (Klongtoey) (2022), which incorporate uniforms collected from workers in Thailand’s tourism and service industries. These garments - rendered obsolete during the pandemic - become materials through which Siributr reflects on precarity, labor, and the vulnerabilities of those most affected by economic shutdowns.
Also included are works from the Matrilineal series (2023), a deeply personal project made following the passing of Siributr’s mother. By tracing the interwoven histories of his family and the Thai nation across the twentieth century, the artist reclaims female genealogies often absent from official historical narratives, honouring women’s quiet acts of endurance and care.
Throughout the run of the exhibition, Canal Projects will host a series of free public embroidery workshops designed by the artist. Building on the participatory nature of There’s no Place, these workshops invite visitors to contribute their own stitched reflections to the evolving textile work. Jakkai Siributr will lead sessions during the opening weekend, followed by local artists who will continue facilitating the project throughout the exhibition’s duration.
The exhibition is curated by Amy George, Senior Curator at the Whitworth, and organised by The Whitworth, The University of Manchester, in collaboration with Canal Projects.
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