It is well known that Thailand (or Siam in its former name) changed its form of government from absolute monarchy to democracy in 1932. This event is known as the Siamese Revolution, led by a group of civilians and military officers who had studied abroad. The revolution was a power struggle between the old power structure, or what could be called the monarchist group, and the elite with liberal or democratic ideas. This power struggle ended with the change of government in Siam (Thailand at the time) from absolute monarchy to democracy on June 24, 1932.

After the change to democracy in Thailand in 1932 evidence suggests that the monarchist group did not accept the revolution. There were movements and opposition to the revolution to restore the power of the king and the monarchist group. These movements took place at many levels, including legal movements from political groups, operations from state officials, and even operations to seize meaning and create "narratives" or cultural politics, such as reviving old political ideas instead of new political ideas from the West. and create political narratives that challenge the meaning and importance of the Siamese Revolution in 1932.

These movements have had a profound influence on the understanding of subsequent generations in a way that has reversed the truth between what happened and what happened in the narrative.

Over 15 years after the Siamese Revolution in 1932, the People's Party, which was the ruling group at the time, began to lose power. This was partly due to movements and struggles (both covert and overt) to return to power for the monarchist group, leading to the defeat of the People's Party in 1957 by the coup d'état by Field Marshal Sarit Thanarat.

After that, the image of the monarchy in Thailand began to return to the political dynamics officially again after World War II with the support of conservative political groups and the anti-communist ideology during the Cold War. This has made the monarchy regain its power and status as a symbol of tradition, culture, and nation ever since.

However, the process of power struggle between the monarchist and liberal democratic ideologies in Thailand has continued for a long time, whether in terms of debate, policy, state structure, thought, even in educational institutions, in terms of movements of individuals and groups on the streets, or even in the policies of political parties, in the structure of the parliamentary system, or even in families, and of course in social media and the internet.

For me, this ongoing process is something that is very interesting and worth watching. It is not just the movement of society as time goes forward. It is the movement of society forward with debates, purification, and the occupation of history in the definition of truth to support the ideologies and thoughts of each group.

Of course, this process of seizing meaning, belief, and truth did not just begun in our era. It has happened over and over again in the history of human society, but it has changed or differed with the variables of society.

Likewise, within the field of competition at present, the attempt to occupy truth or history can be enforced more widely and deeply. And many times, it makes me wonder if the truth or something that I used to believe and hold on to was ever true, and if it will still be true tomorrow?

About my 2 works

A part of 13° 48′ 58.76′′ N, 100° 34′ 30.04′′ E since 1943

The work is a combination of drawing, paint, and silkscreen. It is a photograph of the original Supreme Court building of Thailand, which was completed in 1943. The building was constructed by the People's Party, which overthrew the absolute monarchy in 1932. One of the reasons for building the Supreme Court was to celebrate Thailand's regained "full judicial independence" after the People's Party successfully renegotiated treaties with several countries that had granted extraterritoriality to foreigners in Thailand. This was considered a loss of sovereignty for the Kingdom.

In 2012, the Thai government announced plans to demolish the Supreme Court building and replace it with a new, more modern building. This decision was met with widespread opposition from scholars, historians, the Thai Architects Association, and even the Fine Arts Department, which is responsible for preserving Thailand's cultural heritage. It was revealed that most of the buildings that the government wanted to demolish were built in the style of the People's Party era. Despite the opposition, the government went ahead with the demolition.

The text in the work is a quote from a letter written to Francis B. Sayre, an American adviser. The text is written in gold leaf using the same traditional Thai gilding technique. The gold leaf text is visible from some angles but not from others, depending on the viewer's perspective.

Ten of broken bricks

The work "Ten of broken bricks" is a sculpture made of black shoe polish (a material that is widely used in the military). The shoe polish is used to create a mould of a broken brick from the original Supreme Court building (I had the opportunity to collect the brick when the building was demolished in 2014). And then I copied the brick ten times. The number ten refers to the ten reigns of Thai kings. The ten sculptures are displayed on a red velvet base (the same shade of red as the Thai flag) on a blue wooden crate (the same shade of blue as the Thai flag). I also include a message around the crate, to invite viewers to consider their own definitions of truth, time, history, belief, and the human spirit.