Yantra

 

 

‘Yantra’ is an immersive work incorporating photography, film, sound and installations, inspired by the talismanic Thai tattoo tradition, known as Sak Yant.

Background: For centuries, Thai people have believed in the power of talismanic tattoos. The tradition was handed down by generations of tattoo masters who create the designs and empower them with prayers.Each year devotees pay respects to their tattoo masters at the Wai Khru (master day) ceremony. The devotees enter a state of trance known as Khong Khuen (animal spirit possession), when they are taken over by the spirit of their tattoos.

 

 

A personal interest in neuroscience and specifically altered states of consciousness prompted Cedric to delve deeper into the project and produce a film. The film is shot during the ceremonies known as Wai Khru (master day) where the devotees come to honour their masters and to recharge the power of their tattoos, and focusses on the state of trance the devotees enter.

Gathered over several years, the substantial amount of footage and sound material, has made it possible to create multiple versions of what is ultimately aimed at being the most immersive possible experience of the Wai Khru ceremonies. The film is a cinema ready short film, it is also a museum ready shorter looping display cut, and it is a multichannel immersive installation work with surround sound and objects.

 

 

 

 

The ceremonies are, for the most part focused on empowering the tattoos, but the master is not just a tattooist, he is also seen an astrologist, a mentor, a spiritual guide, a shaman. Women come for relationship advice, to get newborns blessed. Boxers to get gloves or a belt blessed, an amulet, anything precious. Many come for advice on choosing the most auspicious day to open a shop, or even buy a car or property.

In a culture deeply rooted in superstition, where a genuine fear of evil spirits still exists, the role of shaman, or magicians is seen as a serious matter.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Exhibitions

Exhibition view, solo show, Chulalongkorn Art Centre

 

Installation views, National Gallery, Bangkok

 

 

Trance / Figuration, Installation view

 

Exhibition view, solo show, Galerie Olivier Waltman. Paris

 

National Gallery, Bangkok | Trance / Figuration – July 1st to Aug 22, 2022

Caxia Forum, Barcelona | May 18, 2022 to Aug 28 2022

Photo London, Somerset House, London | May 12-15th 2022

Caxia Forum, Madrid | Dec 3, 2021 to Apr 15 2022

Espace Lympia, Nice | June 26, 2021 to Oct 31st 2021

Musée Jean-Claude Boulard – Carré Plantagenêt, Le Mans | Dec 18, 2020 to June 6, 2021

Pushkin Museum, Moscow | ‘Tattoo’ – March 2 to Sept 27, 2020

Kaohsiung Museum of Fine Arts | ‘Tattoo’ Sept 27 2019 – Feb 20 2020

Design Museum, Ghent | ‘A Wild Thing’ May 19 2017 – May 2021

Kyoto University / CSEAS, Kyoto | ‘Yantra’ – Dec 2018 

Natural History Museum, Los Angeles | ‘Tattoos’Nov 19 2017 – Apr 15 2018

Asia Culture Center, Gwangju | ‘Tattooed Asia’ Nov 25 2017 – July 29 2018

Tropenmuseum, Amsterdam | ‘Body Art II’,  March 2017 – Aug 2018

Galerie Artima, Paris | ‘Black & White’ June 1st – July 9th 2017

Field Museum, Chicago | ‘Tattoos’  Oct 17, 2016 – Sept 4, 2017

Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto | ‘Tattoos’ April to Sept 2016

MAS | Museum aan de Stroom, Antwerp | ‘Body Art’ Feb 16 – April 17 2016

Museum of Folk Art, Santa Fe | ‘Sacred Realm’  Feb 28, 2016 to March 19, 2017

London Art Fair | Jan 16-20 2016

Tropenmuseum, Amsterdam | ‘Body Art’,  March 20th | August 20th 2015

Musée du Quai Branly, Paris | ‘Tatoueurs, tatoués’,  May 6th 2014 | Oct 18th 2015

Galerie Olivier Waltman, Paris | ‘Yantra: The Sacred ink’   May-Jun 2014

Galerie Olivier Waltman, London Art Fair, Jan 2014

Festival Photo Saint-Germain-des-Prés Galerie Olivier Waltman, Paris | Nov 2013

Le Magasin de Jouets, Arles | ‘Sacred Ink’  July – Sept 2013

SNAP Photo Festival, Orlando | ‘Sacred Ink’ May 2013

Farmani Gallery, Bangkok  | ‘Sacred Ink’  Nov 2012 – Jan 2013

Brunei Gallery London – SOAS | ‘Sacred Ink, The Tattoo Master’ Oct  Dec 2012

Chulalongkorn University Art Centre  Bangkok | ‘Sacred Ink’  May 2011

Film Screenings

Installation view. Single channel video. 4:58″ for looping display. Tropenmuseum. Amsterdam.

El Museo Cultural, Currents New Media, Santa Fe, June 13 & 20 2019

Festival Signes de Nuit, Bangkok & Thai Film Archive, June 22-30, 2019

SESIFF, Seoul, South Korea | Sept 12 & 15 2018

Balinale, Bali, Indonesia | Sept 28 2018

Natural History Museum, Los Angeles |Nov 19 2017 – Apr 15 2018

Tropenmuseum, Amsterdam |March 2017 – Aug 2018

Alliance Française, Bangkok |  Sept 14, 2017

Field Museum | Chicago Oct 17, 2016 – April 30, 2017

Museum of Folk Art, Santa Fe | Feb 28, 2016 to March 19, 2017

Royal Ontario Museum, Ontario | April to Sept 2016

MAS | Museum aan de Stroom, Antwerp | Feb 16 – April 17 2016

Tropenmuseum, Amsterdam | March 20th – August 20th 2015

Musée du Quai Branly, Paris | May 6th 2014 – Oct 18th 2015

Galerie Olivier Waltman, Paris | May-Jun 2014

Public collections

British Library Collections
SOAS, School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London