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Sudsiri Pui-Ock's Interviews
August 2008
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-Q What kind of work are you showcasing in this exhibition (are they
paintings/scluptures...what mediums have you used? etc.)
The curator, Dr.Pandit Chanrochanakit chose my video "The Street of
Two Birds" for this show.
-Q What message are you trying to get through to the audience?
= Being a stranger in the unfamiliar city, my perception was different
with the thing that might be so common to the local people, in this
case is to cycling everyday in the small street with the heavy truck
traffic. And when I start to do something that was unexpected for
them, the way they reacted was also very much unexpected for me.
-Q Do you think the Thai and Indian culture are similar?
= I would say that the Indian Culture gave a huge influence in the
Thai culture; the Sanskrit language, the philosophy, the religion, the
arts, the aesthetic, the knowledge. Almost in everything that related
to the mind and the beauty I can see the root to the Indians culture.
Not only to the Thai culture but also to that of the western world since the Indian culture
is one of the oldest civilizations.
We received a great influence from the Indian culture but there is the
nature of the Thai , something that I don`t really know why at this
moment, that made us so different to the Indian today, may also
be since the past.
-Q Do you think there are still some (negative) stereotypes associated
with both of the cultures? Like Thais thinking of Indians in a certain
way and vice versa? If so, what are some?
= I think the Indians are so rich in their character. Their identity
is strong and very out standing. I would say the same to Japanese, for
instance.
The Indians that live for a long time in Thailand, they are already
"Thai" in Thailand though everything is long rooted to the Indian
culture still they are a stranger.
-Q What do you think exhibitions like these do for society as a whole?
We all sometime or the other encounter with the idea of "stranger"
either we ARE (or we feel that we are) the stranger or we MAKE the
others feels that they are the stranger.
We deal with that idea in our own family, at school, at work, at the
market, on the street, in the restaurant, at the airport, in the taxi
etc.
So this exhibition will remind us of that idea. And it is important to
aware of this unconsciousness sometime.
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