What’s up? …Life!

By Paola Guzman
Assistant News Editor

“What’s up? …Life!,” a solo exhibition, opened on Oct. 4 in the SAL Gallery. Artist Shwanpach Ratanapinyopong, also known as Jid, is a second year art therapy graduate student.

Her artwork seems fun and animated until one looks a little closer, Ratanapinyopong takes inspiration from the world around her, her patients, and people she encounters. “I get depressed when I read news, so that expresses through my artwork.” Some of her pieces were filled with people and chaos since this is how Ratanapinyopong sees the world.

Within these drawings there are crosses between animals and people in swirls of disarray. “This is how I see people, I don’t see them as a human anymore. I see them as animals,” said Ratanapinyopong.

Other artwork exhibited depicted animated characters that took up most of the canvas. One in particular was of a chicken holding a pair of shoes. “He has wings but he cannot fly, why?” Ratanapinyopong explained. The canvas next to that one showed a wolf holding a sheep. It is supposed to represent an alternative to the story, “The Boy who Cried Wolf.” Ratanapinyopong wanted to present the alternative notion that the wolf did not want to eat the sheep, but that the wolf loved the sheep very much.

Ratanapinyopong is very devoted to her art therapy work; much of her artwork represents patients and their feelings. One in particular, represented a patient who needed medication. She explained that this patient had hallucinations and medication would make him feel better. However, she was apprehensive of this decision, unsure of whether is was the right thing to do. Most of her artwork represents deep feelings of anxiety correlated to experiences.

Ratanapinyopong also exhibited her own character in various snapshots pinned to string wire. Her character’s Instagram is @jid.rid.s.