Art Book
1992–1996
Between 1991 and 1996, Tawatchai Somkong created twenty-three art books, documenting the world around him while studying at the Faculty of Painting, Visva-Bharati University in Santiniketan, India.
From a butterfly fluttering through the garden of 34 Purbapalli, to the demolition of the Babri Masjid in December 1992 and the violent riots that followed between Hindus and Muslims across the country, the many events he witnessed deeply stirred Tawatchai’s thoughts. Why had a land long regarded as a cradle of ancient faiths become a battlefield of conflict? In the quiet embrace of Santiniketan’s nocturnal sky, he reflected on the nature of belief in Thai society, where people of different religions—despite their differences—are still able to coexist peacefully.
The lotus flower in Buddhism, the lingam in Hinduism, the crescent moon in Islam, and Noah’s Ark in Christianity—symbols with unique meanings within their respective faiths—were dynamically woven together to form a vision of an ideal world, representing the shared ultimate aspiration of all religions.
More than two-thousands of abstract drawings found within these art books serve as tangible evidence of his exploration of the borderlands between reality and the ideal. From his beginnings in a remote rural village to the great cities on the far side of the continent, over the course of more than three decades, the context of place may have shifted, yet the colours on each page have remained vivid—just like the inspiration rooted deep in the artist’s spirit.
