she/her
Arts Division
PhD Student
Graduate
Porter Faculty Services
Methaporn Singhanan is a PhD student in Visual Studies at the University of California, Santa Cruz, and a former Chevening Fellow at the British Library (2022-2023). She holds a B.A in History and M.A. in Art and Cultural Management from Chiang MAi University, Thailand and a Postgraduate Diploma in Asian Art from SOAS, University of London. Her study focuses on Buddhist art and Buddhist manuscript textiles from mainland Southeast Asia, particularly Thailand, Laos, and Myanmar, and examines them from the perspectives of material culture, gender, and transregional commerce. Before her doctoral studies, Methaporn served as a textile curator at the Bank of Thailand Museum for eight years, where she developed deep expertise in Southeast Asian textile heritage and curatorial practice. Drawing on her expertise in art conservation, she takes a multidisciplinary approach to Southeast Asian visual heritage. Methaporn has done substantial archival research on manuscript textiles in the UK and various Thai temple collections, looking at how they serve as devotional offerings, trade commodities, and visual statements of faith and identity. Her work also explores the mixed aesthetics created by colonial-era global trade. She is actively involved in community-based initiatives in Northern Thailand that seek to revitalise traditional skills and protect Buddhist material heritage through local engagement.
Textile Curation; Buddhist Art and Buddhist Manuscript Textiles from Mainland Southeast Asia; Southeast Asian Art history; Cultural Heritage Preservation; Transregional Commerce; Economic History
2022-2023 Chevening Fellow at the British Library, London
2017 "On the Line: New Perspectives on Craft in Southeast Asia". an exhibition exploring craft and weaving through the practices of women in Southeast Asia, London Craft Week 2017, at The Aram Gallery with British Council and Royal College of Arts, 4 May - 17 June 2017
2016 “Tai Textiles in Southeast Asia: Economic and Cultural Ties” at Bank of Thailand Museum from 30 Nov 2015-2023
2015 “Through Lanna Trade Routes to the Wardrobes of RoyalCourts” at Bank of Thailand Museum from 19 Dec 2014 -30 Dec 2015
2014 “Spectacular Textiles of Nan River Basin” at Bank of Thailand Museum from 21 Dec 2013 - 31 Dec 2014
2010 “Burmese-Tai Yai in Nakhon Lampang” about cultural, traditional and architectural Burmese and Tai Yai people at Kong Ta Road in Lampang 10 June-15 July 2010
2024 "Historic Manuscript Textiles from Mainland Southeast Asia: Cultural and Economic Ties" .9th ASEAN Traditional Textiles Symposium(ATT9), 3-6 November 2024. Vientiane, Lao PDR.
2024 "Shan manuscript textiles at the British Library". International Interdisciplinary Conference on Myanmar’s Borderlands(2024 IICMB). June 17-19, 2024 Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok, Thailand
2024 "Challenges of Researching Historic Manuscript Textiles from Mainland SEA: Classification, Provenance, Socio-Cultural Context". The SEAMEO SPAFA International Conference on Archaeology and Fine Arts (SPAFACON)v10-14 June 2024. Bangkok, Thailand
2023 "Manuscript Textiles in the Southeast Asian Collections at the British Library". SEALG Conference and Annual Meeting,University Aix-Marseille, on 15-16 June 2023. Marseille, France
2023 "Manuscript textiles in the Burmese Collection at the British Library". 15th International Burma Studies Conference 2023 Envisioning Myanmar: Crisis, Change, Continuity(15IBSC). University of Zurich, Switzerland.
2017 "Lanna Textiles: Historical and Cultural Ties: Past and Present" .13th International Conference on Thai Studies "Globalized Thailand?" Connectivity, Conflict, and Conundrums of Thai Studies (ICTS13) 15-18 July 2017, Chiang Mai, Thailand.
2024 Historic Manuscript Textiles from Mainland Southeast Asia: Cultural and Economic Ties, In Proceedings of the 9th ASEAN Traditional Textiles Symposium, Vientiane, Laos.
2023 Manuscript Textiles: Weaving the Thread of Faith, The British Library Website.
2023 Manuscript Textiles in the Southeast Asian Collections: Project Update, The British Library Website
2023 Drawn from across the globe: manuscript textiles in the Southeast Asian collections, The British Library Website.
2022 Manuscript Textiles in the Southeast Asian collections, The British Library Website
2021 ‘The Buddhist Textiles: Conservation and Curation’. Cultural Heritage of Wat Pong Sanuk. Lampang: Wat Pong Sanuk.
2018 ‘Lanna Monetary: Brief of Development and Diversity’. Rom PaYom Journal. Year 20th. April-September. Chiang Mai: Chaing Mai University.
2017 Conservation and Display of Ancient Textiles. Rom PaYom Journal. Year 19th. January-June. Chiang Mai:Chaing Mai University.
2016 Burmese and Tai-Yai in Lampang in 19th Century-Present day. Lampang Studies. Lampang: Lampang Ratchaphat University.
