A Year In The Ground

Eiko Soga
Natchapol Sripetch
Thyme Neelaphanakul
6.4.2025 - 8.5.2025

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"A Year in the Ground," a group exhibition that explores the profound connection between environmental cycles and the human experience. This exhibition brings together the perspectives and approaches to the rhythmic nature of life by three artists: Eiko Soga, Natchapol Sripetch, and Thyme Neelaphanakul. The featured works include video, photography, and installations that invite viewers into an intimate relationship with the material and subject that each of the artists encounters. "A Year in the Ground" is not just an exploration of the natural world but also offers a glimpse into how we hold the memory of all that has passed and continues to nourish what is to come…..
_Mary Pansanga

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Eiko Soga
Scent Line on a Moving Mountain (2025)
video
17:36 minutes

“Scent Line on a Moving Mountain” (2025) attempts to embody the felt knowledge exchanged between an indigenous Ainu elder, Ms Kane Kumagai and non-human beings through processes of Samani Ainu cooking in Hokkaido, Japan. Ms Kumagai’s approach is an indigenous method for living and inhabiting the planet in sustainable ways that is no longer practiced everyday in Japan. While cooking, Ms Kumagai shared tales and songs from her ancestors. Filmed in 2023, when the artist was in early stages of pregnancy, the film charts the physical developments and new perspectives about the ecological, social, and cultural environments. With enhanced physical senses, the film explores how motherhood contributes to thinking about the ecological future.

 

Natchapol Sripetch
some leave, some last (2023-2025)
Giclée print, Aluminium frames

Natchapol Sripetch’s photographic series, “some leave, some last" (2023-2025), showcases the frogs that visit his family’s home. Over the past few years, he has been capturing these moments, closely observing the cycle of appearances of these small creatures. The inspiration for these recordings stemmed from Natchapol’s simple question about not having another chance to encounter those frogs again. In a way, documenting these frogs reflects the transitory relationship shared between them at that specific instance in time. Natchapol is also intrigued by the fragility of life as it manifests in existence and eventual disappearance. Each image was captured at night, where the darkness of nature, when met with artificial light, unveils the frogs as they begin their nocturnal activities. In this series, Natchapol used film photography and enhanced the images through his unique colour-grading process, conveying a sense of mystery. The five selected works in this exhibition offer a unique view of nature and its inhabitants, filtered through Natchapol’s perspective and senses.

 

Thyme Neelaphanakul
Hand (2025)
Cyperus corymbosus (plant), Plywood
Window (2025)
Chasmanthium latifolium <northern sea oats> (plant),
Cyperus corymbosus (plant), Plywood
Raw (2025)
Ophiopogon japonicus <mondograss> (plant),
Piña (Pineapple fibers), Tanned Leather
Court (2025)
Antigonon leptopus <Coral Vine> (plant), plywood, Acrylic Sheet
Shadow (2025)
Cupressus sempervirens, <Persian cypress> (plant), plywood

The five newly created pieces by Thyme Neelaphanakul presented in this exhibition provide an insight into her creative process and her reflections on the use of natural materials alongside other elements in her work. As a floral artist, Thyme is aware of the transient cycles in nature: the stages of blooming, cutting, withering, preserving, reusing, and the cycle of new growth. In this exhibition, we observe structures that are intertwined with various plant arrangements, revealing both aspects vividly. Typically, Thyme often employs grid frameworks in her works, which serve as initial foundations but are generally obscured as her creations evolve. The structures presented here are a blend of used materials from her past work, now adapted and repurposed. Thyme’s latest pieces embody the fluidity of nature and the interplay involved in the creative process, capturing the essence of time, materials, and her own thoughts. This installation highlights the use of natural materials to create new shapes and forms, revealing the preservation of elements that still convey beauty and suggesting the beginnings of something new that is waiting to enter the creation cycle.

About the artist:

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Eiko Soga is a UK-based Japanese artist, working with moving images, photography, poetry, and installation. Through her interdisciplinary projects, she explores the relationship between emotional and natural landscapes within the more-than-human world. She has completed her practice-led PhD, titled ‘Felt Knowledge: Ecologising Art and Samani Ainu Cooking’ at The Ruskin School of Art in Oxford in 2023.

Eiko has been showing her art works internationally in exhibitions including Pitt Rivers Museum and Modern Art Oxford in Oxford, the Ethnographic Museum in Switzerland, the Ichihara Art Museum in Japan, and IKON Gallery in Birmingham. She is currently a Randall MacIver Junior Research Fellowship in Fine Art at University of Oxford.

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Natchapol Sripetch is a photography-based artist who explores ephemeral surroundings. His attentive gaze is reflected in images that capture the transformations happening around him. His practice goes beyond simply capturing the moment; his approach to post-processing is a key element of his photography. Natchapol examines themes of fragility, life, and decay to explore the interactions and relationships between humans and their environment at specific moments.

Natchapol Sripetch has received distinguished awards, including the "Young Thai Artist Award" in the photography category in both 2019 and 2022. Additionally, he received a special mention for the "Next Generation Art Prize" in Singapore in 2021.

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Thyme Neelaphanakul is an artist whose work celebrates the organic beauty of nature, particularly flowers, plants, and natural materials. She has always been attuned to the rhythms and cycles of nature, drawing inspiration from the subtle patterns of flora and the textures of materials found in the wild. With no formal training in art or flower arrangements, she views the process of creation as a simple extension of nature’s beauty that surrounds us. Rather than relying on structured techniques or rigid concepts, her work flows from an intuitive connection to the materials and elements found in the world around them.
Thyme Neelaphanakul is widely recognised for her artistic contributions under the name Blue in Green.

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Poster design: Theetat Thunkijjanukij

Installation: Paraform Studio

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