Remnants

Remnants, 50 x 38″, Inkjet prints

In this single-image work, the artist examined what happens after one’s death from the perspective of the living. Remnants is a photograph that embodies the ritualistic process of Thai-Buddhist funerals and showcases the traces of life and memory that linger in tangible objects. The work was derived from her personal experience of losing her grandfather and encountering the unfamiliar rituals, longings, and grief, which influenced her creative processes and decisions to connect with her heritage. On the tray were the recreated human ashes and bones to replicate the post-cremation process. They were placed alongside screws and metal pieces peeking through the grains, representing the remaining medical devices that prolonged her grandfather’s life, while drawing a parallel to his lifelong occupation as a construction worker. The family photographs he took are carried by the same tray that holds his ashes, visually conveying the tensions between the permanence and transience of human existence through the integration of memory into archival family images and ceremony.