✹ The object  of power

Christmas just passed by, the campus is closed, everybody is having a good time with their families. I just moved into a new place where I can have a bigger space to work on my practice and have more time to focus on my context research.

The previous blog on fans as the object of power - seeing some fan that used to belong to someone that was in the high hierarchy from the past that is no longer exist in the present anymore makes me realise how uncertain the power can be. In fact, not only the power and the position of some particular person is uncertain - Everything changes, nothing is permanent. This is the core of Buddhism as well as the law of the universe - energy changes all the time.

With this idea of the change of energy - I, now, get the better picture why I like the shiny surface at the beginning of the term and chose it as my research subject. The reflective surface can grab the audience’s attention by their unpredictable light transforming, in the other words, light reflects on the surface and create the distortion of the reality. Human visual attention responds more to the moving object rather than a still object. Because a moving object can imply a living creature which sometimes can be dangerous in the wild. And with the unpredictable reflection - the shiny object can draw the attention more in the gaze of the eye.

Also, with the idea of uncertainty of power, the subject of jewellery as a status symbol is now expanded into another context that I found related to my personal background. A couple of years back in Thailand we just had a coronation for the new king, it was grand but not as popular to watch. Because of the new king’s scandal and his way of ruling the country - people start criticising the monarch against the law of the article 112 - which forbidden people to do so or otherwise they can be arrested. From the glorious day of the previous king when people praised the king as a god to now, when people risking their lives speaking an unspeakable issue against the law.

Coronation on 4th May 2019 for King Vajiralongkorn

I am interested in this issue in many angles. First - as the criticism on the monarch is forbidden in the past, never before any art concept speaking about this - IT IS, then, SHINY for me and the world. Secondly - it is the political issue that is ongoing, I see the news every day and Thai people is fighting on this issue every day so I feel like I can do something about this from my part. And lastly, Thailand is the conservative country craftsmanship in jewellery making on the great crown and another royal insignia is never be innovated - I hope I can make use of my own culture in a different perspective.

With that being said, I guess this is the last blog in this term. I think I have a better connection with my idea more and more every day. For now, I feel like I haven’t gone deeper in each subject yet, although I feel like I have been prepared for the upcoming term.