Pridi in Paris
Prima Jalichandra-SakuntabhaiThe exhibition features a dual-channel video installation and soundscape, Maps of Paris. Conceived and built by my friend, Manop Buranapramest, the installation consists of a piece of glass that reflects the video playing from a monitor, overlaying with another video projection. These layerings of histories, both political and personal, reconstruct my own journey throughout the city of my youth and the invisible legacy of my great grand uncle, Pridi Banomyong. After studying at the Faculty of Law in the Sorbonne where he absorbed the ideals of French Republicanism, Pridi
returned to Thailand and organized the 1932 Siamese Revolution that changed the system of government in Thailand, from an absolute monarchy to a parliamentary democracy. Later forced into self-exile, he ended his days in Paris.
In lieu of plaques and bronze statues, I rubbed the surface of these buildings and streets to obtain a semblance of historical relics. Printed on clear vinyl banners, the rubbings form a contrast with the linearity of the map, confound space and time and reorient our bodies in the imaginary space composed of fragments of places. Accompanying collages act as a subtext, an annotation to the abstraction of these places.
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