b. 1987, Phnom Penh, Cambodia; lives and works in Phnom Penh
Kanitha Tith’s art practice engages with laborious, meditative and repetitive processes in pursuit of a feeling of freedom. She works across several artistic media, making sculptures, installations, performances, videos, and works on paper. Tith often draws on personal experiences, as well as collective memory of Cambodia’s troubled modern history, translating these complex issues into a gentle language of organic abstraction.
Tith is also active in Cambodia’s burgeoning independent cinema industry as an actor, director, and artistic director, closely affiliated with the award-winning film production company Anti-Archive.
She graduated with a degree in interior design from the Royal University of Fine Arts in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, shifting focus to artistic practice after discovering the sense of freedom that comes with using daily objects to make artworks.
Tith has exhibited at prestigious exhibitions in Cambodia, Southeast Asia and internationally. In 2022, she contributed a large installation comprising of sculptures and works on paper was exhibited in the 58th Carnegie International, curated by Sohrab Mohebbi; Tith was the first artist from Cambodia to join this prestigious biennial exhibition in its 126-year history. Also in 2022, she exhibited a substantial body of works in the 11th Singapore Biennale. She has shown work at Mori Art Museum (Tokyo), ifa (Berlin and Stuttgart), French Cultural Center (Phnom Penh), and SA SA BASSAC (Phnom Penh), and many other venues. Tith’s work is held in several prominent private and public collections internationally, including at Singapore Art Museum, and has been critically acclaimed in specialist art publications including Artforum. She has undertaken residencies at the Rijksakademie (Amsterdam), Bose Pacia (New York), Arts Initiative Tokyo (Tokyo), and SA SA BASSAC (Phnom Penh), among others.