Ceramicist Nino Sarabutra asks you to ponder your life and your legacy with her “What Will You Leave Behind” installation which features a gallery floor covered with more than 100,000 miniature porcelain skulls upon which you are supposed to walk.
Nino Sarabutra What Will You Leave Behind
Thai artist Sarabutra invites you to tread upon the miniature skulls that cover the floor as part of the exhibit, citing that each step we take brings us one step closer to our own demise and we never know which of those steps might be our last.
‘I want people to ask themselves how they live, what are they doing – if today was your last on earth, what will you leave behind?’- Nino Sarabutra
The skull covered floor is accompanied by other pieces of ceramic typographic art , eleven wall-mounted ceramic hearts and a dining table and two chairs populated with mini porcelain skulls.
The typographic art pieces are so subtle the text is almost obscured. One asks ‘what will you leave behind’ and one which juxtaposes the word ALIVE upright with the word DEATH, reversed and backwards:
THE 11 HEARTS
THE VIDEO
Nino asked a range of people to help create the skulls – friends, family, neighbors, students, workers etc. While making them, they were asked to contemplate their life and think about what they will leave behind. Their answers, along with answers given through the internet, were projected on the gallery wall as part of the exhibit. Skull-embellished pillows lay on the floor as part of the installation.
The show ran at both Bangkok’s ARDEL Third Place Gallery and as part of a group show at Singapore’s Sundaram Tagore Gallery. Below are images from both.
Nino asked a range of people to help create the skulls – friends, family, neighbors, students, workers etc. While making them, they were asked to contemplate their life and think about what they will leave behind. Their answers, along with answers given through the internet, were projected on the gallery wall as part of the exhibit.
About the artist:
Born in Thailand, Nino Suwannee Sarabutra studied Ceramic Arts at Silpakorn University in Bangkok. After university she joined various advertising agencies – she has worked in advertising and ceramics since.
Her work was exhibited in the National Ceramics Exhibitions 1990 and 1991.
Nino set up her Bangkok studio in 2006 while running a small local advertising agency. In 2008 she started working on her first solo exhibition – Exploring Love. Nino’s work explores human emotions and existence.
