White Gilt is an exhibition by Nathan Beard which aims to deftly unpack the cultural associations and idiosyncrasies of various hand gestures in traditional Thai culture; filtered through the cultural anxieties and self-consciousness of the artist’s ThaiAustralian heritage. The exhibition takes the symbolism and associations of the wai as its main source of inspiration. The wai is a prayer-like gesture where your hands are clasped in front of you, and as a customary greeting in Thailand has its roots in the 12th Century as a way of indicating that you weren’t armed. Complicating the work is a tangle of personal associations between the artist and the wai, namely a sense of cultural inauthenticity which has been harboured through its ritalised performance in social and familial contexts. Works in the exhibition process this cultural inadequacy through a range of influences including images of celebrities awkwardly performing the wai when visiting Thailand, the symbolism of extended hand positions in traditional Thai dance, and galleries of Westerners who upon being arrested in Thailand are subsequently photographed performing the wai as an act of contrition.

Nathan Beard (b.1987) is Perth-based interdisciplinary artist who explores his ThaiAustralian heritage in order to process the complex ways a sense of heritage and identity is negotiated. Beard holds a Bachelor of Arts (Art) with First Class Honours from Curtin University. Exhibitions include A dense intimacy, Bus Projects, VIC (2019), Siamese Smize, Turner Galleries, WA (2018), Transcendence, Firstdraft, NSW (2018), WA Focus, Art Gallery of Western Australia, WA (2017), Always there and always a part, BLINDSIDE, VIC (2017), Radical Ecologies, Perth Institute of Contemporary Art, WA (2016), Ad Matres, Artereal Gallery, NSW (2015), Future Archaeology, 4A Centre for Contemporary Asian Art , NSW (2015), Memento Mori, Lawrence Wilson Art Gallery, WA (2014), and Obitus, Moana Project Space, WA (2014).

n 2017 Beard was selected for the 4A Beijing Studio Program, shortlisted as a finalist for the John Stringer Prize, and Highly Commended as a finalist in the Fremantle Art Centre Print Award.