Panita Siriwongwan-ngarm is a Thai visual communication designer, illustrator, and storyteller who brings hidden stories to life through mixed media and surrealism. In this interview, she shares how her Thai heritage, personal memories, and social issues shape her work. She talks about Malai Memoirs, a project that reimagines lost histories through collage and speculative writing, and explains how she balances personal and cultural narratives. Panita hopes her art will spark curiosity, encourage people to question male-centered histories, and open up new conversations about gender, identity, and overlooked stories.

Panita is a Thai visual communication designer, illustrator, and storyteller based in London and Bangkok. With a background in communication design and media activism, her works revolve around socio-politics, culture, intersectional feminism, and personal histories. She combines storytelling with mixed media, plus a touch of speculation and surrealism. As a visual artist, I am currently exploring the concept of “narrative collage”: how to reimagine the hidden and fragmented queer/feminist ESEA (East and South East Asian) narratives through mixed media including collage illustration, semi-fictional writing, interview, writing-to-audio, and reading recital/performance.

My most recent Project “Malai Memoirs” is the best description of my artistic practice at this stage. I use collage art and speculative writing as my tool to redefine, reimagine, and glue the unrecorded histories. To give more context, as I grew up, I started spending more time with my family members, specifically my grandmother, and I figured that there are so many valuable personal stories that have been fading away from generation to generation. Some of these personal histories even changed my perception of the mainstream histories I learned at school. It is my goal to find a way to tell these stories as a visual communicator.

1. Your work blends storytelling with mixed media—how do you choose the right materials to bring a story to life?

I would first roughly explore different possible mediums and techniques, based on the story that I’m working with. Then, I will choose the one that communicates most efficiently.

Most of my works are culturally specific, as I, as a visual communicator, believe it is needed to be intersectional and to push forward more marginalised narratives that are not centred on Western perspectives.

Panita Siriwongwan-ngarm

2.   How does your Thai heritage influence your approach to visual communication and intersectional feminism?  

My Thai heritage has been a defining influence on my identity as a visual designer. Growing up in a third-world country, I found that my experiences and artistic approach differed from Western perspectives, which led me to develop an awareness of intersectionality — an important aspect of my work. For instance, in my latest project, Malai Memoirs, I tell stories of struggle, aspiration, and resistance experienced by Thai women across different eras through various kinds of Malai—a traditional Thai flower craft that has been gendered, classified, and intertwined with ladylike qualities, reflecting binary and patriarchal structure within Thai Society.


I specifically chose this object, Malai, which may be unfamiliar to those from other cultures, to introduce and highlight the specific cultural and societal framework that uniquely shapes the narratives I seek to share. Ultimately, I would say that most of my works are culturally specific, as I, as a visual communicator, believe it is needed to be intersectional and to push forward more marginalized narratives that are not centered on Western perspectives.

3.   You explore surrealistic visuals to convey hidden emotions—what draws you to this style?  

I’ve grown up reading a lot of fantasy novels, mangas, and anime, and I have been captivated by the power of imagination that could help a person, including me, to express or cope with grief, loss, and other feelings that are hard to put into words. Hence, surrealistic visuals have become my tool to converse emotions— the ones that people could feel differently according to their personal experiences.

4.   Your work engages with socio-politics and history. How do you balance personal narratives with broader cultural themes?  

Personal narratives inevitably intertwine with one’s culture. So, I don’t feel like I’m trying to balance things out, but I’d rather work in a way that I’d observe the socio-politic and cultural part of the particular story, then choose to highlight the influential ones — the ones that are needed to mention to give enough context to the audience/public who came from the same or different cultures.

Surrealistic visuals have become my tool to converse emotions— the ones that people could feel differently according to their personal experiences.

Panita Siriwongwan-ngarm

5.   What lost archives or untold stories have inspired your recent projects? 

My recent project was initially inspired by a random conversation with my grandmother where I learned about her past experiences and noticed their connections to a wilder history of my country. That conversation made me aware of the subtle significance of this kind of passed-down personal history, that are usually ignored and overlooked. Due to time constraints and other limitations, my grandmother’s story had only become the inspiration but was not (yet) included in the project. However, one of the stories in Malai Memoirs was inspired by my personal experience at a conservative girls’ school, which is also a personal history based on memories and speculation. More than that, I was also inspired by the hidden part of the histories that I grew up learning. One of the stories in Malai Memoirs digs into the sexual violence suspected to have been committed by paramilitaries during a Student Massacre that occurred in Thailand on 6 October 1976. This is an incident that I have heard about since I was young, yet not as a “Massacre” but as a “political incident”. The details about sexual and other kinds of acts of violence do not overtly appear in mainstream media until very recently. Even so, there is very little information remaining about the sexual violence that occurred that day, as most of it has been erased or discarded. As a result, the topic is rarely discussed. So, I decided to shed light on this narrative, using speculation and collage art to reimagine and retell the story.

6.   As an artist and activist, what impact do you hope your work will have on the conversation around gender and identity? 

I don’t see myself as a problem solver, but I do hope that my work would spark curiosity which leads to a conversation around the lost/hidden feminist narratives. Ultimately, it would be nice if, after seeing my work, people start questioning the male-centric histories and start to incorporate and wear an intersectional feminist lens when reading or listening to mainstream histories, as I truly believe questioning is a good start for changes.

Panita’s art is more than just creative expression—it’s a way to preserve personal and cultural stories that might otherwise be lost. Through her work, she encourages us to see history from different perspectives and think about whose voices have been left out. She hopes that by sparking curiosity, more people will start questioning and exploring the stories that shape our world. To learn more about Panita, click the following links to visit her profile.

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