Our guest today is Prima Jalichandra-Sakuntabhai. They were born in Thailand and are now based in St Paul, MN, but they’re a true citizen of the world, having lived and studied in many places in between. We discuss their path to performance art, from their upbringing in England to their study at the Sorbonne in Paris, and their eventual move to the U.S., landing first in Chicago, but really coming into their own in Tucson, AZ, after a year of living expansively in the desert.

After a career in more traditional forms of art like sculpture, Prima now works in multimedia and performance, and we discuss some of their more recent works, especially their performative lecture Chloropsis Aurifrons Pridii and their sound piece 174 / Neung Jed Si – A Short History of Thailand. Both works mix the historical with the personal and we discuss documentary, embodied history, and what really is the definition of a place one calls “home.”

Guest Bio:

Born in 1989, Bangkok, Thailand. Currently lives and works in St Paul, MN.
Prima earned a Visual Arts Degree (Diplome National des Arts Plastiques) from the Ecole des Beaux Arts de Nantes Metropole, a License in Film Studies (Licence en Cinema et Audiovisuelle) at the Sorbonne Nouvelle-Paris 3. They completed a Bachelor of Fine Arts at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, in 2013 and obtained a Master of Fine Arts at the California College of the Arts, San Francisco, CA in 2017.

Show Notes

Note: The audio excerpt included in this episode included part of the composition Seine / San Saep / Voice of Water (2025) by Louis Fontenot. Vocalists: Ilse Griffin, Michael Llyod and Molly O’Connor

Prima’s work mentioned in the show:

• The Invisible Archive: Prima Jalichandra-Sakuntabhai by Lara Salmon
• Chloropsis Aurifrons Pridi
• 174 / Neung Jed Si – A Short History of Thailand

People:

• Pridi Banomyong – Thai revolutionary and former Prime Minister, Prima’s great-grand uncle
• Chris Marker – filmmaker
• François Niney – philosopher, film critic, documentarian 

Media:

• Sibylline Screen – Kirby’s curatorial cave project
• Route One/USA – a film Prima mentions as inspiration to move to the US
• Rings of Saturn by W.G. Sebald 
• Khruangbin – band from Texas Saki mentions
• Lucky Luke & Woody – two cartoon cowboys Prima mentions
• Brokeback Mountain
• Pridi by Pridi – A collection of Pridi’s writing
• The Sea of Fertility tetralogy by Yukio Mishima
• Rocky & Hudson: The Gay Cowboys

Credits:

• Edited by Amanda Dee and mastered by Cedric Wilson.
• Theme music by The Necklace, a project by Taylor Shields and Morgan Võ.

Sound Credits:

• River boat with outboard engine (at changing speeds) by nomadas – https://freesound.org/people/nomadas/sounds/690160/ – License: Creative Commons 0
• Flock of seagulls.wav by juskiddink – https://freesound.org/people/juskiddink/sounds/98479/ – License: Attribution 4.0
• S29-19 Bell buoy.wav by craigsmith – https://freesound.org/people/craigsmith/sounds/675693/ – License: Creative Commons 0
• Amb/Sfx_Ext_Day_People Argue & Talking_Boat Engine_Sea_Portuguese_Kapossoca Pier_Luanda to Mussulo Island_Angola (11.08.2024) by SolySombraRecordings – https://freesound.org/people/SolySombraRecordings/sounds/756767/ – License: Creative Commons 0
• JRPG Guitar Desert loop by Destructo20 – https://freesound.org/people/Destructo20/sounds/659223/ – License: Creative Commons 0
• sound-alien7.wav by zippi1 – https://freesound.org/people/zippi1/sounds/18870/ – License: Attribution NonCommercial 4.0
• D302 Boat Engine Cuts.wav by billcutbill – https://freesound.org/people/billcutbill/sounds/669393/ – License: Attribution 4.0
• Desert Night Air With Bird Call by kangaroovindaloo – https://freesound.org/people/kangaroovindaloo/sounds/147264/ – License: Attribution 4.0