KAYA NAKHON REFLECTION OF THE DHAMMA PUZZLES THE CASE OF PRODUCING CREATIVE WORKS FROM SOUTHERN RELIGIOUS LITERATURE

Abstract

“Kaya Nakhon: Reflection of the Dhamma Puzzles”, an artwork collection was inspired by Southern religious literature called “Kaya Nakhon”. Kaya Nakhon is a religious literature that reflects the flow of life focusing on samsara. The story features a city called Kaya Nakhon, ruled by a king named Chitrat. Later, this city was destroyed by 4 armed forces of the God of Death and then collapsed. King Chitrat therefore committed himself to the Teachings of Buddha and always remembered the Load Buddha, the Great Teacher which resulted in wisdom that eliminated all the bad deeds and then he entered Nirvana. The objectives of this artwork collection, “Kaya Nakhon: Reflection of the Dhamma Puzzles” are to transform the essence of this written Southern religious literature and presented into traditional Thai paintings using the tempera technique on powdered white clay canvas. This artwork collection was created based on ancient painting and line bolding techniques in combination with Thai techniques such as glass inlay and gilding in order to contribute to special characteristics to the artworks. The results are “Kaya Nakhon: Reflection of the Dhamma Puzzles”, a collection of 4 traditional Thai paintings which reflect the dhamma puzzles from 8 chapters of Kaya Nakhon