BIG FISH IN A SMALL POND

Big Fish in a Small Pond is in Splashed Series - a sub series within 'Work'

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Splashed is a new approach towards a different artistic practice as it rather focuses on commenting the modified lies, modification and manipulations behind consumerism. Packages of food are printed and painted with surrealistic happy characters and graphics, bright and colorful logos, as well as idealistic and perfect shapes and colors of meat covering the truth behind the untold, unreachable, unseen stories of exploitations, violence and disturbance.

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'Big Fish in a Small Pond' is different than any other work I have done because it is more about the conditions at the bottom of the income pyramid - the largest but poorest socio-economic group. It is a symbolic work, representing labour in the Thai fishing industry as a modern form of slavery. My body is transformed into a living victim- a fish, forced, hooked and being pulled in. As research, I wanted to understand what has been happening by interviewing the labourers. I wanted to listen to their stories about what they have been 

through, and by making a small series of work about it, I wanted to share their personal experiences. 

We purchase packages of food and cans of fish assuming that they are produced by machines in the factory - because of the colourful and bright advertising on the cover. Yet, we never realize, or just ignore the fact of what happens behind the scenes in the middle of the sea somewhere. 

However, instead of using deep-sea fish in the work, I used the Ruby Fish - a genetically modified fish. This was to make comment on modern consumerism. How colour, taste and size are designed and created by big and powerful companies in Thailand to attract consumers like us. Are we, in the end, also victims of today’s consumer culture?

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