The horror of indifference
The photos here are from The Nation, except that of the Puipia piece from Tonson.
Peggy Wauters cuts the heads off cute dolls and replaces them with hideous gargoyle bulbs that are supposed to represent orphans waiting in vain to be adopted. That’s a sour summary of the Belgian’s “Myths and Monstrosities” exhibition at Bangkok’s 100 Tonson Gallery until April 20, but of course it’s all quite interesting.
Wauters cares about society’s “others” — like the orphans and the disabled and prisoners too. Her Orphans series is a kick at the modern world’s continuing inability to find homes, let alone love, for all the outcast kids.
In her quest to promote a tolerance for imperfection, she also berates urban alienation and plastic surgery and turns tales like “Little Red Riding Hood” on their head, with the wolf cowering before a vicious-looking Riding Hood.
As Khetsirin Pholdhampalit reports in The Nation, Wauters grew up in Aalst, a town famous for its carnival, and we all know the bizarre creatures that carnivals lure in and then put on display.
The Tonson Gallery is getting quite well known outside Thailand and also counts Louise Bourgeois among its artist clients. A local talent represented there is Chatchai Puipia, whose sculpture “Dedicated to the one I love”, shown here, must feel quite at home in Peggy Wauters’ world.
Peggy Wauters’ website
