VICTORIA KHOTSANA I B Ye a r 1 3 V i s u a l A r t s E x h i b i t i o n My heritage has largely influenced my body of work. Having grown up in southern Thailand as half Thai and Northern Irish, I have been exposed to the unique and beautiful culture of Thailand. Heavily influenced by Buddhism, the national religion, Thai culture over the years has adopted traditional Chinese beliefs. I have learnt so much about signs, symbols and patterns associated with Thailand, my goal for this exhibition is to promote and educate my findings to the audience through my art. The set up of my exhibition will be displayed in a visual order where first you will be introduced to three of my pieces that depict the cultural belief of Buddhism. This is set up alongside a stand honouring the King of Thailand, Maha Vajiralongkorn. Towards the end of the exhibition, I will display my last two pieces portraying the Chinese-influenced part of our culture, a well-known event in Phuket, “The Vegetarian Festival.” “The Offering” is one of my pieces that holds much significance. This piece portrays the handing of fruit to the shrine as a way of deepening one’s commitment to the Buddha’s path to demonstrate special appreciation to the Buddha for the lessons he has given the people. Completed in acrylic paint and oil pastel I used my own hands as a reference, I allowed myself to portray the part of myself that is self-routine at every Buddhist gathering. Alongside this, “Throwing Water” portrays the Thai New Year celebration where water is splashed as a symbol of renewal and respect, representing the cleansing necessary to shift into the new year. I chose to work with watercolour as this event involves the splashing of water. In conjunction with this, my next display consists of three pottery pieces engraved with traditional Thai designs, all of which are filled with flowers and fragranced water used to pour over the hands of the elderly to ask for blessings. The largest of my pottery pieces has hand carved prints of ‘Nang Noppamas’. My last two pieces depict the Vegetarian Festival. Having my exhibition displayed on the corner of the Main Teaching Building in a sequential manner is intended to give the audience a sense of direction through the scale of importance and belief that our country stands by, as well as allowing them to develop a deeper understanding and link between them all.
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