The MemOYoU Book

While my two palms are tightly holding the book MemOyoU by Santi Lawrachawee, my thumbs gently flip the pages. Page by page, my eyes intently gaze upon the minuscule font of each phrase. 

The story begins at a cafe where Santi attempts to portray his feelings on the relationship between two people, as well as the surrounding chairs, table, coffee cups, the lipstick marks in front of him, the cigarette butts in his hand and more. Santi rewrites and rereads his 10-year notes reflecting the beauty of timelessness. 

“That’s classic!!!”

The memorandum combines Santi’s scattered phrases from his own books intended to trigger the imagination of readers. It features illustrated profound questions and answers – a result of the artist’s self-reflection on his own daily thoughts which are triggered by anxiety, pain, hope, love and imagination. In the same way in which we are unable to read the people we meet without truly understanding them, the book is intentionally designed to be unreadable, a challenge that takes effort and time. 

It’s no surprise that human beings often question the meaning of life, tired of the mundane and repetitive nature of everyday life. Traveling becomes our escape – a means to explore and uncover the truth. 

—Manipa Jayawan—
Curator, CASE SPACE REVOLUTION

There is a private resort where all my memory is laid down in an orderly manner that is easy to trace back. Some memories have not been touched, some were deleted, and some buried or rearranged to an eternal secret. I have been visiting this place for the past 10 years to store up my memories, to create works of art, or to stop by to cry sometimes.

During the time I have been preparing this exhibition with Fahsai Manipa Jayawan, a curator of CASE Space Revolution, these are the years I most often spent in this resort. The box of memories was rummaged and spread around the area. Abundant messages are reread again and I could hear that music in such an almighty sound and feel them all over again.

I have found that… nothing was forgotten.

And what I am doing right now is to reorganize all those memories, and perhaps to sustain my existence.

—Santi Lawr—