MEMENTO

Memento Project

Title: Bangkok Dengue Soiree 

Materials: Resin, Sharpie wax, India ink

Dimensions: Diameter approximately 4 inches, About 2 inches at its thickest point and 1 inch near                           the edges

Artist Statement

I chose to focus on a handful of memories from a trip to Bangkok I took in 2015. Immediately upon stepping outside of the sliding airport doors at Suvarnabhumi, the heat and humidity surrounds you. Coming from a much cooler, subtropical region, acclimation to the different climate there takes time and was a recurring theme of my experience. The feeling of the AC unit on full blast chilled the sweat on me every time I walked from the muggy streets into a 7-11. As I left, the thickness of the outdoor air created a physical sensation as I pulled it into my lungs. My incredibly affordable hotel room encapsulated me in glass high above those steaming and thriving streets. Due to the tropical climate, the crevices of Bangkok are traversed by many more life-forms than I find in other urban environments. Roaches, fist-sized snails, rats, cats, and thousands of dogs co-exist beside humanity here. There is more variety in the species of ants; some notable ones are the 2mm house ants that infiltrate kitchens at least 19 stories up and the much larger 1/4" fire ants raging in bushes and wooded areas.  The street dog problem seems to keep the street cat problem to a minimum, but some form packs and are territorial. Although it's best not to run from dogs because they instinctively give chase, twice I had no choice but to run from packs of around 10 dogs. The landscape is a seemingly limitless tropical city, which is always intriguing to explore despite occasionally encountering corrupt police demanding bribes, drug dealers brazenly and publicly attempting to distribute their wares, reckless vehicles and motorcycles on the sidewalks, motorcycle gangs encircling and robbing tourists, and other perhaps nefarious characters beckoning from the shadows. All of this is trouble easily avoided however, if one navigates with confidence, courtesy, and awareness. What I did encounter were many pleasantly new and admittedly alien feeling experiences. Culture shock seems too extreme of a term for the notion because of how open and welcoming most people I encountered were. The environment was exceptionally stimulating in general, and even more so because of my foreign perspective. 

In creating this object, I chose to melt down the vibrant neon orange wax from a Sharpie marking stick. This helps it seem to glow and emulate the radiant heat and stimulating landscape of the city. The black ink dots scattered about the plane are, to me, symbolic of the various dangers that one must be aware of. Finally, the resin itself is a glassy representation of the city and its air-conditioned structures, helping to contain my comfort. 

The half-sphere shape of the object was intended to provoke many possible connections. I poured the orange wax into the center of the resin and arranged the black dots to appear similar to some strange alien fruit. The different foods and fruits available in Thailand can seem exotic at first.  This object also shares a similar structure to a cell. The resin is similar to the cell wall and cytoplasm, while the orange wax is like a nucleus and other parts. To me, this is representative of the high density of lifeforms in Bangkok compared to other cities I have been to. 

At first I attempted to make a silicon mold around a toy ball. As the black silicon dried I doubted it would be water-tight and decided to just attempt pouring the resin and catalyst into the ball. I had been heating the wax in my oven and immediately brought it out and poured it into the resin, which was itself heating up due to its own chemical reaction. Next I dripped the ink into place and waited for it to dry. The ball partially melted from the chemical reaction but seemed to be fine and the resin did not stick to it. I poured about twice as much resin in and placed the now dry first resin cast in the center, submerging it.