BANGKOK -- In London's National Portrait Gallery hangs the painting "Night Talk," depicting two friends sitting at a low wooden table in a Berlin bar. The mood is tender yet awkward, the kind that exists only between intimate acquaintances.
Jiab Prachakul emerges as an outsider ahead of her game

Self-taught artist Jiab Prachakul realized she wanted to pursue art after visiting an exhibition of British artist David Hockney's work in London. (Courtesy of Guillaume Bouzige)
BANGKOK -- In London's National Portrait Gallery hangs the painting "Night Talk," depicting two friends sitting at a low wooden table in a Berlin bar. The mood is tender yet awkward, the kind that exists only between intimate acquaintances.