Malai Memoirs: Story of her/them whom I may know
[Speculative visual storytelling]


"2200 BCE

The Republic of Thailand

When trees no longer grow,

flowers no longer bloom.

In an old sewing box at my grandmother’s house.

I, a historian of Thai descent found peculiar photos of objects suspected to be “Malai”. 

A meticulous Thai flower sculpture, an everyday object that existed

a hundred years ago before the Great Pollution occurred in Thailand.

Through these photos, I found myself ... travelled back in time,

into the untold stories of struggles and aspirations of Thai female individuals

from various identities and eras — whom I later found out are unexpectedly related to me.

In that journey, I stepped into their shoes …. by becoming them.”

“Malai Memoirs” (บันทึกมาลัย) is an effort to weave together fragmented and ephemeral archives, be it memories, conversations, news, or personal histories through collage illustrations and speculative fiction. To reimagine and shed light on the hidden marginalised Thai female and queer narratives. Stories of ordinary Thai women are told through different kinds of Malai(s) — Thai flower craft that is being gendered, classified, and intertwined with ladylike qualities, reflecting binary and patriarchal constraints within Thai Society.

Malai Memoirs earnestly comments on systemic oppression that camouflages within the old traditions. While lovingly trying to embrace, preserve, and reposition them in modern society.

It is a love letter, a tribute to my roots and to all the women I have ever, known, conversed, and encountered.


The Memoirs:
I have now finished two memoirs: ‘One-sided Malai Memoir: The Girl School’s Student’ and ‘Merit Malai Memoir: The Protester’s sister’.

The first one “Onsided Malai Memoir” is inspired by my personal experience in a conservative girls’ school.

Synopsis:

“Traveling back to 200 years ago, when there were still girl’s and boy’s schools. I ... had become a young schoolgirl. During the Malai-making class. I found myself captivated by a girl sitting next to the window and ended up arguing with the teacher for not paying attention. That day, I came to realize the harsh truth of how the binarised society expects I/her to be.”

The second one “Trampled Malai Memoir” digs into the sexual violence suspected to be committed by civil officers during the Thai infamous Student Massacre that happened on 6 October 1976.

Synopsis:

“Traveling back to 224 years ago. It was a day before the infamous 6 October student massacre in Thailand. I ... had become a young woman, a younger sister of a student protester.  Seeing my/her Sister having a fight with mom, going to a protest. All I/she could do was to weave a Malai and pray, but things had gotten worse. Ending up finding out that my/her sister was killed and sexually assaulted during the hellish incident left me/her scarred for the rest of my/her life.”

Illustrations:

“Malai Memoirs” attempts to expand the possibility of illustration beyond drawings. The illustrating method here is a process of collecting, reimagining, collaborating, and burring the lines to archive, embody, and visualise the hidden narratives. The illustrations are a mix of photography, digital drawing, digital collage, and collaboration with friends and acquaintances in my home country- who took part as photo donors. The surrealistic elements are incorporated into the work to convey the abstract emotions and conversations between time-space, human-object, and facts-imagination supporting the speculative stories of “Malai Memoirs”.


More than that, the Collage technique has been used in grassroots political movements in many cultures. It is an effective use of limited resources and does not require lots of fancy materials. Due to this reason, I use this method of illustration to tell the story of the underrepresented people and to call out for the injustice to be seen.


All illustrations are done on the computer but printed using the Risograph technique, supporting the eco-feminist part of the narrative (mentioned in the “All about “Malai Memoirs” video) to push the illustrations beyond prints and publication.

Publications:

Publications are another important element of this project, there are executed in accordion format—collections of illustrations on one side, and stories on another side. I decided to go for this particular format to emphasize the act of unfolding the ‘threads’ of stories. This is inspired by the process of making Malai which is an act of weaving small elements into a long-form sculpture, just like how the project is trying to weave small details/archives into solid stories. The covers of the two books are made with tracing papers, giving a translucent effect, not letting the audience know the title and caption of the book until they start looking closer and paying attention to it. Only the peculiar-looking riso-printed image is clearly shown on the covers to invite readers to the stories. To connect the tracing papers to the book, I use the hand-sewing method and the same material (white thread) that is used for making Malai to complete the binding.

[Visual explorations - feel free to drag these images around!]

Panita [She/Her]
is a Thai visual communication designer based in London, currently an MA Visual Communication student at Royal College of Art. Her works revolve around socio-politics, culture, intersectional feminism, individual stories, history, and memories. Her methodology is a combination of storytelling and mixed media. She is currently exploring the possibility of surrealistic visuals to convey the hidden emotions and conversations between time-space, human-object, and the lost archives.