Warisara Thomson

A REAR WINDOW PROJECT

Incorporating satellite and personal archival imagery, street view footage and narration, Warisara Thomson guides us through her hometown Ban Chang in Rayong, Thailand. I think I’m homesick (2021) provides an intimate account of where Thomson grew up before moving to Aotearoa in her late adolescence. She ventures back to sites of significance while expressing a sense of loss as she comes to terms with the level of expansion Ban Chang has seen since she left, which has almost doubled in size. The visual imagery fittingly reflects the imagery used by Thomson to reminisce and share stories. She describes her upbringing in Ban Chang as vibrant, surrounded by family and friends. In returning to her hometown via digital footage, familiar sites and memories in her life become a source of comfort. From her family home and favourite food stalls to her friends’ houses. Even where she caused mischief and had her first motorbike accident. I think I’m homesick provides an opportunity for collective memory caused by experiences of diaspora or displacement to be collated. Like the layers in the work collaged together, we are reminded of embodied notions of both solitude and resolve in sharing such personal recollections.

Warisara Thomson is a multidisciplinary artist working between installation, moving image, performance, and photography. Her practice explores themes of distance, cultural identity, and Thai political discourse. Thomson graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Arts specialising in photo media in 2021 and is currently studying towards a Master of Fine Arts at Whitecliffe College. I think I’m homesick received a Board’s Choice Award at the 2021 Eden Arts Art School Awards and was a finalist in the 2023 Aotearoa New Zealand National Contemporary Art Award.

I think I’m homesick is part of Dunedin Public Art Gallery’s Rear Window Moving Image Programme, which showcases moving image works by contemporary Aotearoa New Zealand and overseas artists.