Series: Kwan Khao
Category: Kwan Khao
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Khao Kwan Thung: The Vessel of Abundance, 2021
Series: Kwan Khao
Medium/Materials: Drypoint printing on cotton paper, paper cutting and fabric
Type of work: Mixed-media installation
In Thai tradition, Khao Kwan Thung, small pouches of blessed rice seeds are kept to bring prosperity, protection, and infinite abundance. This installation reimagines the concept of the “blessed pouch” not merely as a physical object, but as a sanctuary of collective memory and spiritual resonance.
The artwork features suspended, translucent fabric vessels resembling scaled-up rice pouches, cascading from above. Inside these glowing forms, thousands of golden rice grains and delicate hand-woven threads hang in mid-air, casting intricate shadows across the space. As light filters through the ethereal structures, it creates a sanctuary-like atmosphere where the physical grain transforms into a quiet locus of light, intention, and prayer.
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After the Harvest: The Weight of Memory, 2021
Series: Kwan Khao
Medium/Materials: Drypoint printing on cotton paper, paper cutting
Type of work: Mixed-media installation
This artwork turns its focus toward the quiet stillness that settles over the land once the season’s labor is done. Inspired by the traditional mounds of harvested rice gathered across paddy fields, the piece explores the profound duality between nature’s physical yield and the meticulous human effort embedded within it.
Comprising five distinct rice bouquet sculptures created entirely from drypoint-printed and hand-cut cotton paper, the installation traces the transformative passage of time through color. The shifting spectrum, moving from vibrant greens to golden yellows, warm earthy browns, and ultimately stark black-and-white mirrors the natural lifecycle of the paddy field as it matures toward harvest. While the colored hues capture the living, physical transformation of the crop across seasons, the monochromatic bouquet stands as a meditative archive of memory, time, and spirit.
Through this temporal progression, After the Harvest: The Weight of Memory illustrates how the agrarian cycle is intrinsically bound to human existence. The endless rhythm of planting, ripening, and harvesting serves as a metaphor for the human experience, reminding us that memory, nature, and the passage of time are inextricably linked, each dependent on the other to give life its sacred weight and continuity.
