Iconoclast on the ramparts

The poor Mona Lisa seeks solace among her toys in "Barbie Doll".

If you're in Paris and visit the top of the Eiffel Tower, keep an eye out for Montri Toemsombat - he'll be sitting on a rooftop nearby. He had a three-month art residency in the French capital this year but couldn't stop thinking about his boyhood days in northeastern Chaiyaphum province, sitting on the roof of his house and watching the world go by.

Even then Montri was breathing deeply to try and achieve freedom from the clutter of existence. Now, in his art, he's playing off the interchange between Buddhism and Christianity - and being engagingly provocative about it.

"Nirvana/Paradise: Reality/Illusion" is his exhibition at the Kathmandu Photo Gallery on Pan Road in Bangkok, just off Silom, until July 28. There are 11 self-portraits in diverse poses reminiscent of religious iconography - the Buddha's hand gesture, Jesus with his cross. It is not sacrilege, Montri says.

"Whenever I go to an elaborate temple or church I ask myself what people have faith in - symbols or principles?" says the 32-year-old, who often spends time conversing with monks in remote wats.

"If we have consciousness and intelligence, we can remain free even in the world of materialism. I believe the Buddhist nirvana and the Christian paradise are the same thing - a matter of being happy, mindful and conscious of your present moment."

The Jatukam Ramathep talismans currently selling like tickets to Eden will in fact get you nowhere, the Chulalongkorn University graduate says. "The phenomenon occurs during both political and economic crises. In Buddhism, to become truly mindful requires time and patience, but desperate Thais want a fast track to hope, luck and protection. How far we have deviated from true Buddhist doctrine!"

In his portraits, Montri has torn away his mouth, eyes or entire face because "I don't want to pinpoint myself or any particular person - I want to let viewers to share the experience."

In "Satellite#3" he is faceless wearing a plastic diaper while hoisting a TV antenna in a pose reminiscent of Jesus crucified. "If we attach ourselves to other things more than the core principles of religions, it's like we receive any signals without consciousness and mindfulness," Montri says.

In "Cannibal" he's in a bloodied butcher's apron, his head in a halo of reflective spheres, with one red hand raised in the Vitarka Mudra. The Buddha gesture - thumb touching index finger - is in elegant contrast to the bucket of red paint in his right hand.

In "Guillotine", Montri is a golden-haired Marie Antoinette felled on her rooftop beneath a huge pipe duct. The French queen's subjects reviled her for living in comfort while they starved, Montri notes.

"How must she have felt living in a country where everyone hated her? There are many possible answers. Maybe she wasn't happy in the sophisticated world of Versailles. But one thing I know is that hate makes everyone suffer. To forgive is to release suffering and bring mindfulness."

When Montri finally visited the Louvre recently after many visits to Paris, he saw the "Mona Lisa" and the hordes of tourists surrounding it. He adopted the model's demeanour for his picture "Barbie Doll", posing with a small army of Barbies in his arms. His eyes have been shredded from their place in the photo and inserted elsewhere.

"She is so pitiful," he says of Leonardo's famous muse. "She is confined and is forced to greet crowds of tourists who are eager to see her enigmatic smile. The landscape in the background of the painting is rural - it's probably her hometown - but she has to live in a metropolis. Her eyes and her smile are so sad."

In "Disco Ball", Montri stands on a car roof, a hand raised in the Buddha gesture again, and he's bare-chested, so you can see he has no navel. This is an allusion to a belief among some Westerners that "the next Buddha", known as Ariya Metteyya, is due to be born soon.

"The coming Buddha, many people believe, has no navel because he is self-born, without parents. There's an increasing number of people who believe it's true. I think that's very dangerous. What's going on with our world today?"

Who to believe in, then? Yourself, for starters, Montri says. Opposite his 11 photographs is an installation called "Lockets to Paradise (I Am My Own Charm)". It's an oversized necklace strung with pendants that look like Buddhist amulets, but rather than bearing images of the Buddha or revered monks, they contain a picture of Montri.

"We can become enlightened," he says, "if we focus our mind on the present and become mindful - conscious of our individual daily activities. When we are truly mindful, the living Buddha is in us."

The Kathmandu Photo Gallery is open daily except Monday from 11am to 7pm. Call (02) 234 6700.

Khetsirin Pholdhampalit

The Nation