My Mother was a Nun I

My Mother was a Nun I, is the juxtaposition of the figure of Phaptawan’s mother in her robe as a nun, which imitates conventional position of three tier assembly of god and divine figures commonly seen in temple mural in Ayutthaya and early Rattanakosin period. As an artist, Phaptawan presents an under-explored lacunae within the narrative of Thai art history, as an individual who has accrued extensive experience through the informal apprenticeship under her father, the mural painter Paiboon Suwannakudt, from 1969 to 1981. Phaptawan has in fact overcome many hurdles as an outlier, a female mural painter surrounded by male peers and monks; she looked past the restrictions and taboos against normal interactions between her and monks due to gender.

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