Offering series 2023

Offering reveals the complex ritual of gift-giving to spirits. On a daily basis laity and monks offer rice, fruits and green tea as offerings for good fortune and security; whereas chickens and pig heads are offered for significant ceremonies such as weddings, illness or family gatherings. The series derived from a personal memory from Than’s childhood. He remembers the teaching of almsgiving from an early age. In this specific memory, Than discusses a time in which his older sister and brother were sick and his mother bought a chicken and bananas to offer to Nak Ta, a spirit form that lived close to Than’s home and represented the relationship between people and the environment. Nak Ta was said to live in the village forest, and offerings and respect paid to him could result in healthy recovery. Through this ritual, incense was lit during the initial offering and would need to stay lit until all ash was burnt. As a child, Than found it difficult to endure such long processes and often blew the incense out early, which would bring his mother’s disapproval. Than states this is the teaching of ‘Sambork’ – we ask this thing back for good luck. Through the sharing of Than’s memory, the audience is invited into an intimate moment of a young boy learning the practice of patience and sacrifice in the name of belief.