Core Value 10
Applying His Majesty the King’s Sufficiency Economy, saving money for time of need, being moderate with surplus for sharing or expansion of business while having good immunity.
Cultural Mandate 2
Thai people must not engage in any business without considering the benefit and safety of the nation."
"Thai people must never reveal anything to foreigners that might damage the nation. These actions are a betrayal of the nation.
Thai people must not act as agent or spokesman for foreigners without considering the benefit of the Thai nation, and must not express opinion or take the side of foreigners in international disputes. These actions are a betrayal of the nation.
Thai people must not secretly purchase land on behalf of foreigners in a way that endangers the nation. These actions are a betrayal of the nation.
When a person has betrayed the nation, it is the duty of Thai people to actively and quickly put a stop to it.
Core Value 7
Putting the public and national interest before one’s own.
Core Value 4
Seeking of direct and indirect knowledge and education.
Core Value 7
Understanding and learning of true democratic ideals with His Majesty the King as Head of State.
12 Thai Values
The 12 Thai Values is a conceptual exploration of national identity, cultural assimilation, and historical narrative through the medium of coins, examining how state ideology is embedded within everyday objects. Focusing on the balance between Thai currency and the 12 Cultural Mandates (1939) and 12 Core Values (2014) issued by the Thai government. By presenting coins as artifacts of the institution, the series discusses how objects can reinforce national identity and cultural norms to its people and to foreign eyes.
The coins used for this series are my grandfather’s coin collection, spanning the 1930s to 2019. This collection serves as an archive of political objects, embodying institutional cultural policies that have shaped my Northern Thai Chinese heritage.
Through the use of macro photography, the project amplifies the details of these coins, shifting them from functional objects to ideological symbols. The combination of light, texture, and scale isolates the coin’s engravings, showcases to the viewers a new perspective on everyday objects and to reconsider an object that is usually overlooked on a daily basis. Each of the images correspond with a cultural policy meant to mold Thailand into a single cultural and ethnic country.
Cultural Mandate 10
Thai people should not appear at public gatherings, in public places, or in city limits without being appropriately dressed. Inappropriate dress includes wearing only underpants, wearing no shirt, or wearing a wraparound cloth.
Appropriate dress for Thai people consists of:
Uniforms, as position and opportunity permits;
Polite international-style attire;
Polite traditional attire.
Cultural Mandate 1
Everything must be stated as Thai and referred to as Thai.