Suwanee Natewong was the first female Southeast Asian ceramic artist whose work I had encountered when I was studying in the USA. Suwanee had created a large ceramic mural in the 1980s during her residency at the Archie Bray Foundation for the Ceramics Arts, one of the most respected and internationally acclaimed ceramic organization in the USA. As a foreign student from Myanmar studying ceramics in the US, I was eager to find exemplary artists within the ceramic field of similar Southeast Asian origins since the ceramic curriculum rarely includes ceramic work from Southeast Asia. The whimsical narratives in Suwanee’s work instantly drew me in. Though lighthearted, her work is deeply genuine and thought provoking, while providing a glimpse of both the interior life of a woman and the cultural and spiritual life in Northeastern Thailand. Stories about coming-of-age, romantic and sensual awakening and questions about one’s sense of agency in relation to social, religious and political control can be interpreted throughout her works inspired by various stages of the artist's lived experience and emotional growth.

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-Soe Yu Nwe