The Lullaby “olahey olahuek”

The Lullaby "olahey olahuek”

Solo Exhibition by Tong Napat Klawmanee

May 24 - June 24, 2025

Gallery opens on Tuesday – Sunday (Closed on Mondays)

10:00 AM – 6:00 PM

at BNC Creatives Art Gallery RCA

The Lullaby "olahey olahuek” (โอละเห่ โอละหึก) is a solo exhibition by Tong Napat Klawmanee, inspired by his deeply personal experience of hearing his mother sing lullabies to him every night before bed. After growing up and leaving the home where he once lived with his mother to study art and explore life during his adolescence, he eventually returned to his hometown. It was then that a flood of childhood memories returned to him, memories of love, deep emotional connection, thoughts, values, mannerisms, ways of life, teachings, and even his identity, all of which had been passed down from his mother and shaped who he is today.

In Napat’s recollection, he can still hear the echoes of lullabies and bedtime stories that gently carried him into sleep in his mother's arms. While the melodies were soothing and melodic, the lyrics often held dark, mysterious themes, stories of ghosts, spirits, and death. These eerie elements, wrapped in love and maternal care, fostered in Napat a deep fascination with the darkness of night, filled with imagination and dreamlike fantasy.

Napat weaves these memories and emotions into an exploration of his relationship with his mother—examining the complexities of familial power, the compassion and courage his mother embodied, the mistakes and pain they inflicted on one another. These intimate fragments are combined with elements from Thai oral traditions such as lullabies, ancient myths, folk tales, and ghost legends. Stories like Jao Nok Kha Wao (The Crowing Bird), the tale of Sang Thong, and the legend of Krasue (a floating female ghost), serve to reflect the underlying darkness and intensity present in ethno-narrative storytelling about human relationships and ways of life in this region throughout history.

These stories are expressed through his vibrant, colourful paintings works that, while visually bold, carry an emotional heaviness, rendered in raw, vigorous brushstrokes that capture the power and depth of his internal reflections.

Naphat also highlights the theme of motherhood in Thai history, portraying the powerful and unconditional love of a mother who would do anything for her child, regardless of social class or status.

The power of the feminine, or more precisely, the power of womanhood, has long been a hidden force, like the wind beneath the wings, quietly supporting and propelling great men throughout history to rise to greatness and maintain their power over time, whether in the form of a mother or a wife.

This exhibition, composed of many subtle, interwoven elements, reflects the ties of memory, emotion, and experience, both beautiful and painful, between the artist and his mother, or perhaps between all mothers and their children. It offers a deeply moving and emotionally charged portrayal of those universal bonds.