CHANIKA
Chanika svetvilas
HIGHSTOWN, NJ
“The Hidden Hills artist residency would give me time to focus on a new series of book collage and drawing works using botanical, medical drawings, and medicine in art to focus on stigma, healthcare and wellbeing. I am applying to have time to create that also focuses on my own wellbeing and self-care and how that impacts what I create. I would like to create a series of intimate works that explore this sensibility. I self-identify as having an invisible disability of neurodiversity and explore this lived experience in my work.” - Chanika
Chanika Svetvilas is an interdisciplinary artist who utilizes narrative and lived experience as a way to create safe spaces, to disrupt stereotypes and to reflect on contemporary issues as a cultural worker. Past projects include: collecting objects and stories that reflected an immigrant history from surrounding New York City communities for a commissioned window installation at the Tenement Museum; stationing a handbuilt mobile immigration booth on the streets of Brooklyn to survey the needs of English language learners with the Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund; and disseminating immigrant rights information with the youth program, Leadership Through the Arts for the Queens Museum. At The Ohio State University, she interviewed faculty, staff and students who self-identified with disability to speak about accessibility issues and the disability community on campus. Svetvilas is also the co-founder of ThaiLinks, a collective that was based in New York City dedicated to increasing awareness about Thai issues and the Thai American community and co-founder of the biennial Thai Takes film festival, the first Thai film festival in New York State.
She is grounded in her lived experience as a Thai American woman with a mental health difference. The material choices of charcoal, prescription bottles, found objects, medical texts and personal archive reflect a resistance to the American mental health care system and to reclaim agency. Humor and whimsy convey the ironies of unsupportive medical treatment, healthcare access and disparities. To disrupt the alienation, She creates performative interventions and invites viewers to participate in actions that resonate beyond the visual. Chanika incorporates criptime into her practice. This means rest and recovery are just as important if not more than productivity.
Additionally, she has presented her interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary installations at the annual College Art Association Conference, Society for Disability Studies Annual Conference, Pacific International Conference on Disability and Diversity and exhibited at the Denver International Airport, Jamaica Center for Arts and Learning, ABCNoRio, Brooklyn Public Library, Westbeth Gallery, Islip Art Museum, Asian Arts Initiative, Artworks, Plainsboro Library, 22 North Gallery, Gallery Aferro, and the Wexner Center for the Arts among other spaces and contexts. Her work is published in Studying Disability, Arts, and Culture, An Introduction by Petra Kuppers, Wordgathering, Rogue Agent, Hives, and Disability Studies Quarterly.
Svetvilas was born in Buffalo, NY and raised in Elmira, NY in the Southern Tier of New York State. After previously living in Brooklyn, NY, Columbus, OH, and Plainsboro, NJ, she currently resides in Princeton Junction, NJ. Her studio is located at historic Art Station in Hightstown, NJ.
Chanika, ABOUT HIDDEN HILLS
“My artist residency at Hidden Hills gave me the opportunity to reflect on my art practice and experiment in new ways that inspired new work when I returned home. It was my first time visiting Asheville, and I loved walking around town and engaging with local artists and art spaces like Different Wrld. In particular I enjoyed learning about the rich history of the Burton Street Community and seeing the community run Peace Garden. Another highlight was visiting The Block mural and the Noir Collective Gallery. Also what a delight to find Madam Clutterbuckets - a Neurodiverse Universe, collectively run business as someone who self-identifies as neurodiverse. I also continue to collaborate with Asheville, based, DIYabled. I left feeling very connected to the community in a short span of time and refreshed to continue my art practice.”