Fon Panya and Dee U-raporn
1993
Faculty of Fine Arts, Chiang Mai, Thailand

In this living artwork that transformed the artist’s bottled photos of the elderly into reality, 72-year-old Fon Panya and his female counterpart the 64-year-old Dee U-raporn, were paid to model in two antique glass cabinets for half a day, each holding an empty biographical tome save for their name, year of birth and address. Plaques placed in front of the cabinets spelled out basic details in a pseudo museum display, while lecturer-artist Uthit Atimana contributed a performance by parading his two-year old daughter in front of the cabinets as he spoke about his expectations for his young offspring. With Uthit holding an empty biographical diary to be filled with his daughter’s prospective life, the work offered juxtapositions on youth and experience, past and future, but more important was the suggestion that Thailand was negating its traditions for the lure of the new. This work was realised when Navin Rawanchaikul was still a student and was clearly misunderstood by Chiang Mai University’s administrators who nearly had him expelled for being disrespectful and immoral for putting an elderly couple on view as a public art exhibit.