Rite of Shadows
2024, Site-specific performance and video installation
Exhibition: Phimailongweek, site-specific experimental installation, Phimai old town, Sep 9 - 12 2024List of works:
Kalasa: Sculpture, 2024, Aluminium, Metal, Glass, Crystal ball sculpture on Bricks base 88x100x114
Rite of Shadows: 2024, video projection on haze 10.08 min
The spirits of our ancestors, who fought and bled for freedom, dance with us in an eternal resilience in this liminal space between shadow and light, where Rite of Shadows is a site-specific installation by day and a live screening and performance by night.
With slow, deliberate steps, the body enters the gate of ritual at the time of death, weeping under the weight of curses for merely resisting the fierce currents of the opposing side. The wind whispers, swirling over the petals of the dissolving Lamduan flower, indifferent to the prayers bidding the soul to the ground. Silver Kalasa reflect light, while glass stones capture the lightning. Light and sound hum in resonance, echoing through eternity at the gate of spirits. 'Rite of Shadow' explores the origins of ancient cinema practices in Southeast Asia, where rituals, darkness, spirits, light, and shadow intermingle. Reinterpreted through a cinematic process without reliance on a projection screen, this artwork instead uses the movement of atmospheric elements and the environment as a screen, evoking a phenomenological and collective spiritual experience. It also subtly critiques the dominance of Western cinema, shaped by narrative, entertainment, and propaganda. Montika invites us into a space of release, standing against the gusts of wind. Even as lightning cracks and rain pours, we seek only to cleanse body and spirit in the fleeting moments of twilight.
