Prapon Joe Kunjim

b. 1972, Bangkok

As a part of a generation that has been raised on an over-nourishment of TV and videos, I’m fascinated by the cinematic conventions that convey a sense of escape. This has become a crucial starting point in my working process. The domestic relationship that we usually have with our television sets is somewhat personal, but the conventional shop display, exposed in the public domain, is something quite opposite to that private notion. We are usually confronted by the designed sterile display of visual technology that aims to sell the product with a non-offensive yet seductive subject matter, not dissimilar to fragments from a holiday programme. Hmm! The generic paradise getaway! Sun, sand and sea. Oh yes! It’s the stereotypical expectation of the exotic, an ideal breakaway from it all.

I’m fascinated by my own desire to get away from it all too. Get away from the mundane routine life into an affordable holiday lifestyle which is exotically predictable, psychologically stimulating and absurdly nourishing. The sea is sometimes bluer on the other side (of the screen).

(Text: heroes + holies catalogue, 2002)