Kra-Tua Taeng Seua (A Tiger Hunt)

Kra-Tua Taeng Seua is a traditional folktale about a tiger hunt, once well known throughout southern Thailand. In recent years, the number of traditional theatre troupes performing the play has diminished. Collaborating with one such group, the Wat Khuha Sawan Folk Play Company, Sakarin reimagines the folktale as a work of art reflecting life in a megacity. The artist worked closely with the company to develop all aspects of the artwork, from scripting to costume design, facilitating the production of a community-centric artwork that grapples with the incompatibility between contemporary and traditional ways of life. Comprised of three components – a live performance, a silent film, and a behind-the-scenes documentary accompanied by performance relics and documentation – Sakarin’s retelling of the folktale highlights the agency of art in strengthening societal ties, by serving as the crucial link between disparate lifestyles often dichotomised as the ‘modern’ and the ‘primitive’, and highlighting the fallacy of such divisions.