|
For the First Thailand Biennale, Zheng Bo decided to grow a botanical
slogan using epiphytes, plants that thrive in mid-air, and install the
slogan in the atmospheric greenery at Thanbok Khorani National Park. As
visitors walk along the path in the middle of the park, they would
discover the words hanging among trees and gradually figure out the
slogan.
During his site visit in autumn 2017, Zheng Bo had an opportunity to
visit the local Orchid Grower Community Enterprise in Ao Nam Village of
Krabi’s Ao Luek District. Led by Somsak Panboon, the community
enterprise has been cultivating orchids and putting them back into
nature. After discussing with Somsak Panboon, the artist decided to work
in collaboration with this local group. They settled on local orchid
species - Phalaenopsis cornu-cervi, Ascocentrum miniatum, and Dendrobium formosum - that would bloom in the period of Thailand Biennale.
The slogan “Life is hard. Why do we make it so easy?” is modified from Jon Jandai’s famous talk “Life is easy. Why do we make it so hard?”
Jon Jandai is a farmer from northeastern Thailand, and an activist for
sustainable living. He founded the Pun Pun Center for Self-Reliance and
has been creating what is now a widespread earthen building movement in
Thailand. The artist modified Jon Jondai’s statement to point out
another aspect of the ecological situation. Life on earth is supposed to
be both easy and hard – an oak tree gives birth to billions of seeds
during its lifespan, but only one of the seeds is likely to grow into a
full tree – but some of us humans have made our own lives too easy while
making the lives of other beings, human and nonhuman, extremely
difficult.
(Text by Noona Ajjana)
|
|
