Liggend beeld van zwarte figuur met witte borsten voorgebonden liggend op een bank en een tweede figuur met puntige gele hoed knielend voor de bank. Op de achtergrond goudgekleurde gordijnen en rode bloemen.

Harit Srikhao, 2017

The Indra Reincarnation, 2017

Created by Harit Srikhao in 2017. The artwork is an inkjet print on Epson satin paper and displayed at 116 x 144 cm.

In the average Thai household, a photo of the king takes pride of place, occupying the highest, most prominent place on the wall. Having grown up with this glorification of royalty, artist Harit Srikhao reflects on the divine status attributed to the king of Thailand. The idolatrous worship of his image is a deeply-rooted part of Thai society, and offers refuge in a fantasy world. In the series Mt Meru, the name of a sacred mountain that also forms the centre of the universe in Hindu and Buddhist cosmology, Srikhao shows the viewer this surrealist landscape full of fantastic, divine figures. His photos do not depict any nirvana, however – if anything, they put one in mind of violent rituals, cannibalism and masochism. In this way, Srikhao’s Mt Meru emphasises the paradox of what he encounters in Thailand: the everyday worship of a portrait of the ruling power versus the absence of room to question its meaning.

© Harit Srikhao, courtesy of the Foam Collection

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