'Hanumandala'

PROJECT INFO

2022

Client: Personal

Medium: Digital, Photoshop

Born and raised in Australia, I find it increasingly difficult to hold on to my ethnic roots.

My parents are both proud Thai people and have done their best to instill customs and values into their children, and to some extent it was worked - but in the end, I am still a ‘farang’, a foreigner, to my country, my culture.

I struggle with the language, even though I’ve grown up speaking it - I can now only understand it, have great difficulty conversing, as my australian upbringing(and accent) overshadows my basic grasp of the country’s culture and language.

One thing I have always been able to relate to though is the art and the food. These universal mediums transcend language and allow me to hold on to what little I have left of my heritage. In terms of art, I have always been quite fond of ‘Khon’. Khon, the masked dance drama that is quite popular in Thailand, is a performing art that combines musical, vocal, literary, dance, ritual and handicraft elements.

I was attracted to, not so much the dancing and the music, but the intricate, handcrafted costumes and masks that the performers wear.

I remember my Dad recounting the Ramakien, a popular story that is often the basis for ‘Khon’ - an epic Thai story/fairy tale about Phra Ram, son of the King Thotsarot of Ayutthaya and the incarnation of Phra Narai, to my younger sister, while I listened on.

Phra Ram was accompanied by his companion, Hanuman, a monkey god and hero in his own right. I was enthralled by their exploits, Hanuman was always guileful and cunning, brilliant and quickwitted. He was my new idol, my muse.

Sometimes he’s just a symbol of what little I have to hold onto, to remember who I am or where I’m from.