Gallery VER

SACRIFICE Chapter 1 “พลีตน”
By Samak Kosem
Curated by Ariane Kupferman-Sutthavong

Venue: Gallery VER Project Room
Exhibition dates: 9 November – 22 December 2019
Opening reception: 9 November 2019, 6 pm onward

SACRIFICE is a two-part exhibition, a fanciful reenvisioning of realities on the ground in Southern Thailand. Using storytelling as a primary medium, Samak Kosem probes the narratives, fictions and other constructs that have shaped physical truths, or what is perceived as such.

Sometimes designated as “red zones”, the modern-day provinces of Pattani, Yala and Narathiwat bring to mind images of violence when evoked – flickering fragments once viewed on a screen – that are as quickly forgotten once the topic dropped. Traces of the military occupation, alien to local residents (both human and non-human), nonetheless seep through their everyday existence. Lands and lives may be viewed as sacrificed in this light – buried in our unabated flow of information.

Chapter 1 “พลีตน” – the exhibition’s first installment – is the departure point from which we journey beyond prevailing frames, bringing the multifarious interpretations of sacrifice into question. In Islam, it is a trial of faith; meanwhile, political and military addresses have routinely tied it to the notions of honour and duty. All in all, sacrifices recorded in historical or religious texts and collective memories convey the actions of one person or group – a renouncement for a greater cause that unaccountably omits broader reverberations.

Abstract and at times absurd, these sacrificial (hi-)stories are in turn bent by Samak Kosem through a series of displacements and transfigurations. Part elusive, part incongruous, Chapter 1 “พลีตน” serves as a preamble, setting the scene for the alternative realities of its sequel exhibition.

SACRIFICE Chapter 1 “พลีตน” will open at Gallery VER Project Room on 9 November 2019. It will be followed by Chapter 2 “สละตน” starting from 21 December 2019 at Cartel Artspace.