
Phornphop Sittiruk Thai, b. 1986
“The words of mouth” is a work that I created from 2020-2021. I created it in response to the moment I decided to cut contact with my father, who is currently ordained as a Buddhist monk. My father used to be a great hero to me. He was so skilled as a craftsman that everyone knew him. He taught me to know and love art. Taught me how to be a man and as a man should be.
In 2015, he decided to leave his family and become a monk because of his heavy alcohol addiction. At the time, I had
to serve as a conscripted soldier. Out of this event, I experienced a lot of disappointment in my hero. After my discharge, I realized that my family was never the same again. Everything was empty. Mom was overwhelmed by the past and her
sorrow. My brother was in a state of disorientation and became violent. I'm overwhelmed by the loss, disappointed and confused by the things my father taught me to be. But in the end, my father did everything contrary to what he had taught me. These events made me think repeatedly about the teachings my father had taught me all along. I've always wondered how true a statement can be. Or is it just a beautiful ideal that someone would pick to cover up who he really is? For me, the story between me and my father was a strange relationship full of love, anger, and disappointment, mixed and matched until I can no longer tell how I feel about him. I only knew that while I was full of anger and disappointment in my father. I still always follow his teachings. Like my father's words or teachings, they were inseparably embedded and etched into my consciousness. But at the same time, following my father's teachings hurts me every time, as it only confirms the story of one of my heroes and his betrayal of my love and respect.