A Fragment From Unresolved History.

Context

The boy was called Kanang, a Maniq child, brought from the forests near the Thai-Malaysia border to the royal court of King Chulalongkorn in 1905. He was perhaps somewhere between seven and eight years old. His arrival was the result of a royal directive: the king wished to adopt a child of the Maniq people, a fascination that Chulalongkorn would later explore in his own romantic drama “Ngo”  published in 1913. While Nakrob Moonmanas takes this circumstance as his starting point to reveal traces of political power and institutional control.

Approach

The logo draws from the handwriting found in Ngo, a dramatic work by King Rama V. Written during the later years of his life, when illness prevented him from writing himself, the text was dictated to his daughter, Princess Nibha Nobhadol, who transcribed the entire manuscript by hand. Her handwriting became the basis for the logo.

Typography draws from the organic character of early Western English novel typography, creating a contrast between Thai and Western visual languages. This reflects Siam’s pursuit of “civilisation” during an era when presenting itself as modern and civilised was closely tied to resisting the label of being “barbaric” and vulnerable to colonisation.

Experience

The ambition to “civilise” ethnic peoples is presented as something contradictory, ambiguous, and deeply unsettling. A photograph exists. A name is recorded. Beyond that, very little is known. After King Rama V’s death, records of Kanang’s life disappear. The exhibition therefore places Kanang at the centre of the visual experience, appearing across the leaflet, key visual, and exhibition materials. A dark, restrained, and uneasy visual language mirrors the atmosphere of the exhibition itself.

Image Courtesy of
Nakrob Moonmanas, Warin Lab Contemporary