Originally from Khon Kaen in northeast Thailand, as a young adult, Nilraya Bundasak relocated closer to Bangkok, in Nakhon Pathom province, where she now dedicates her time to creating vibrant and bodacious artistry.
Heavily influenced by her mother and grandmother, who spent many an hour working with textiles, Nilraya’s creative passion stemmed from early childhood, growing up in a household filled with vivid colours and patterns. She always felt inspired by what her matriarchs were creating, so not surprisingly Nilraya developed a strong penchant for art at school, which was further explored at Mahasarakham University. These first impressions of fabric and design, as well as an innate longing for creativity, were the initial sparks that led her to find her calling as an artist.
Attracted by bold shapes and bright colour tones, Nilraya’s art is often compared to the contemporary pop and impressionist movements. Definitely experimental, she employs different techniques in every piece, rendering each creation completely unique from the next.
“Every piece is meticulously selected to portray a particular emotion or to relay a story”
A versatile artist, boasting a high level of skill in a variety of different crafting techniques, Nilraya has the ability to marry traditional methods with more modern ways of working with fabrics. This makes her art all the more fascinating. Understanding perfectly the effect fabric will have on her audience’s senses, every piece of textile is meticulously curated on canvass to portray a particular emotion and story for onlookers to contemplate.
When asked what she loves most about being an artist, she explains, “It’s wonderful that art gives me such a satisfying outlet for self-expression”.
Feeling constrained by societal and cultural conventions, Nilraya uses art to transgress ingrained boundaries. This is highlighted in the complexity of detail and method used in every creation; she is writing her own story beyond anything she learnt in school or from her peers. Unpredictable and erratic in the best possible ways.
Nilraya’s art is a subtle representation that she is ‘unbound’, confident in her natural abilities and in her way of seeing the world. As such her creations represent personal impressions of her own life. She considers that each piece is a specific page in her colourful diary, expecting that one day she can look back, recounting her own journey through the masterpieces she fabricated, and the materials she used to make them.
Discover more at: facebook.com/nilrayabundasak and Instagram.com/by_nilraya