PART OF THE STORY
12 Survivors
The idea for this painting starts with a story told throughout Southeast Asia, about Twelve Sisters. In Thailand we call it Nang Sip Song (นางสบิ สอง) or Phra Rot Meri (พระรถเมรี). It is an epic story that sees twelve sisters overcome numerous trials and betrayals, but has strong themes of loyalty, love and resilience. With many characters, all with differing motivation and agendas, the story has many perspectives. I have represented these perspectives with the multiple horizontal and diagonal lines in the background and other symbols and imagery. I have also included images representing small moments in my own life when I have had the clarity to see the many perspectives present and how they are influencing me.
Avocado Durian
This was the first piece I painted for this series. It was the beginning of my experimentation of adding a perspective or dimensional element to my work that can be seen, to a lesser degree, in the other pieces in this show. In this painting I was pulling on old techniques I used in my signwriting days that included lines, colour and lettering.
Avocado and durian are both bold yet unusual fruits, and an even odder combination. People often love them or hate them. I have a feeling that's how some people might feel about this experimental piece.
Bad Landing
This painting is a reflection on how easily it is for relationships to go wrong if we are not careful with our interactions. The bird crash landing is symbolic of the misunderstandings that can occur when someone explains themselves the wrong way. The angles and orange lotuses at the top of the painting represent the peacefulness experienced before that one mistake and how one bad exchange can cancel out 100 good ones.
Bare Foot
For me there is nothing so pure and grounding as walking barefoot. Feeling the ground under my feet connects me back to nature and my innocence. Walking barefoot takes training. At first it is painful as you feel all the lumps and sharpness of the ground. No matter how physically strong you are, a soft sole limits your ability to move forward. But with time, resilience and focus, your feet toughen and you barely feel the rough terrain. I find this a good metaphor for life.
Crocodile Hunter
This painting is inspired by a classic Thai story about a crocodile lord called Chalawan, who ruled over a group of beings that could take on both human and crocodile form. When Chalawan kidnaps the daughters of a wealthy man, Krai Thong, a crocodile hunter and tamer is hired to defeat Chalawan and an epic saga unfolds. The story is so popular there is a temple dedicated to Krai Thong in Nonthaburi Province. The story reflects how Thai people in old times had a strong relationship with animals. They believed that crocodiles and humans can have relationships and crocodiles do have feelings like humans.
While painting this I was reflecting on how important it is to recognise and respect an animal's true nature and how many people are surprised when an animal will display its wilder, instinctive side. Sometimes this can be true of human interactions and systems of being. We can be let down, or even betrayed by the same people and systems we put our time and energy into.
Fear
When playing in open fields in my village when I was a kid, the shadow caused by an eagle overhead would strike fear into me and my friends. Parents would often tell their kids that the eagles would swoop down and take them, just like we had seen them do to baby chickens. This was a way of getting kids to come in out of the heat or to come and help with chores, but it always sparked my imagination and added to the excitement of being out in nature.
Tied in with this childhood memory are Thai and Buddhist beliefs and approaches to birds. Birds symbolize freedom and are often used in ceremonies where one sets a bird free to free their own negative thoughts, fears and sufferings. In this case, catching a bird is seen to be ok, however, taking a bird from its mother or nest is thought to bring bad karma and would result in you being separated from your own mother and family. Fascinated with nature as a child, this did not stop me, but maybe the birds I took from their mothers and tried to keep as pets, lead to me living away from my family since age 14. In this image, I am the black bird. I am not sure if I am swooping at something or falling from my nest.
Lets Talk
Let’s Talk represents the need to actually take time to sit and talk, face to face. To listen carefully and to be heard. Connecting meaningfully with others. The rabbits represent people always being on the run, always distracted and not listening carefully. When this happens it is easy to not catch the real meaning.
Long Shower
Usually when painting, I am pulling stories and ideas out of my mind and memory. But this painting dragged me in. It built up by itself and gave me space and time to relax. It is a lot calmer than the other paintings in this collection and gave me a sense of calm when I was painting it. Images within the painting, including the shower head and the multiple baths, representing ways others relax. For example, my teenage son and his love for long showers and my wife's love for long, warm baths.
No Signal
My grandfather was a fortune telling and spiritual healer. Some of my siblings also now work in this space and through meditation and buddhist practices, communicate with spirits. I have never been interested in doing the same, however, since my mum passed away in 2022, I have wished I could communicate with her, but there is just no signal. My way of communicating is visual and done it through my art.
Signs
This painting is very much linked to No Signal. It is a representation of me searching for, and wishing for, signs from my mum. It is a hopeful painting, because while I am hoping for a sign, if there are no signs maybe that means she is at peace, which is all I wish for her.
The painting is a reminder to look for positive signs and hold on to them.
One Baht
My grandmother used to say to make sure you always had at least one baht in your pocket in case you came across someone seeing an elephant for one baht. The saying suggested that we be open to possibilities and opportunities. It only takes one idea, one chance, one try to make something happen. One idea can equal one opportunity, but you need to be ready to take hence the one baht in your pocket.
Positive #1
The chicken, pig and fish at the center of this painting refers to a simple Thai farming technique that many Thai families used when I was growing up. It was a simple system that placed the pig pen over a fish pond and a chicken coup over the pig pen. This way the above animals' uneaten food and droppings would fall down and the animal below would eat it. It was a very effective system, making the most of the family's food scraps. This painting is a reminder to keep things simple and ensure our ways of doing things are effective and making the most of our time, energy and resources. Keep it positive.
Positive #2
This painting is an extension of the ideas in Positive, 1 which explores simple and effective sustainable systems, and makes reference to global environmental issues. Instead of a fish, this painting features a whale, who are filter feeders and who also are able to store carbon in their bodies. If whales were protected and numbers of whales increased, they might actually help clean the ocean that humans are actively poisoning. This painting aims to highlight that there is always a simple solution and that we need to use natural resources positively.
Part of a Story
Each of the 21 wooden panels is a study of characters that are present in many of my larger works. Instead of developing the characters in my sketchbook like I usually would, I decided to paint them this way. Many of the characters are inspired by Thai folk stories, traditional Buddhist stories and Chinese Zodiac animals, and some represent aspects of my childhood. For example the first panel acknowledges the Year of the Rabbit, while the sixth panel references a southern Thai story about a crocodile hunter, and the thirteenth panel depicts the buffalo skins my grandfather used to make his shadow puppets. In this way, each panel is part of a story, my story.
