
Phornphop Sittiruk Thai, b. 1986
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.