PETRONAS Canada

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petronas-canada

In an earlier post I had noted how on July 13 2018, LNG Canada formally welcomed PETRONAS as their fifth Joint Venture participant and how this investment was connected with TransCanada’s Coastal GasLink pipeline that is building to transport the natural gas from Dawson Creek to the LNG Canada terminal in Kitimat.  Much of the gas to be transported to market via the pipeline and terminal will , of course, come from  PETRONAS owned Progress Energy’s own gas fields in the North Montney area. On November 22, 2018 Progress Energy Canada Ltd. changed its name to  PETRONAS Energy Canada Ltd. (PETRONAS Canada). Mark Fitzgerald, President & CEO of PETRONAS Canada said, “The name change is a reflection of our parent company’s commitment to Canada and the strength of our business in the company’s overall portfolio.” Malaysian Crown corporation PETRONAS now not only owns one of the largest natural gas resources in the Montney basin, but is also a key player in getting Canadian LNG to market across the Pacific ocean.

Image: http://mole.my/petronas-jv-participants-reach-final-investment-decision-on-lng-canada/
https://www.energeticcity.ca/2018/07/petronas-now-officially-a-partner-in-lng-canada/
http://www.coastalgaslink.com
https://boereport.com/2018/11/23/progress-energy-changes-name-to-petronas-energy-canada/
https://www.petronascanada.com/

Rajinikanth meets Thotsakan

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_DSC5642 crop
In the 3rd and concluding performance for the Pavilion Without Pavilion, Bangkok Biennale 2018, I made an impromptu photographic action on the 3rd of September at Wat Arun. This action was premised on the conflation of two gargantuan Dravidian icons that have attained global currency, Demon King Thotsakan (Dasakantha or Ravana) and contemporary SUPERSTAR Rajinikanth. They are both unquestionably giants of global Indic culture, one from the historiographical past of Farther India and Suwannaphum, and the other from the more immediate realm of  Kollywood.

The Eclipse

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blackAnd then …. at the height of the offering, as I was deep in my incantation of Kata Prha Rahu Kam Duang and just as I was placing my  Black Jelly Suriyan down on the altar of Phra Rahu the lord of eclipses, I heard a loud crash. It sounded like an explosion as it echoed under the umbrellas that protected worshipers from the sun (Suriyan!)

I was shaken out of my immersion in the moment and, as I turned towards the source, I was shocked to find that it has been the sound of my photographer, Durga Rajah’s massive 24-70mm Nikon lens crashing to the floor…. falling off the camera body … mid-photo! Durga speedily returned the lens to the camera body and tried to resume the shoot as I carried on with the proceedings but the first few images were black, the next set were overexposed and finally she got the damaged lens working, albeit performing poorly.

The whole temple crowd had been startled and Durga and I were deeply disappointed. We left the scene after completing an otherwise wonderfully successful performance, wondering how two serious professionals had been so unprofessional, … wondering if indeed events had been beyond our control … if, in fact, we had experienced the wrath of Rahu, who might have been displeased by our antics!

As I reviewed the images from the shoot late that night trying to salvage a series, I found my hands going up, almost autonomously, in a gesture of prayer … an epiphany …. I got it … Rahu had accepted my offering … He had eaten the sun! And in my realm of activity … in my medium of representation … in the photography of the event … there had been an eclipse … and a return of a queer penumbral light,  and that, only as Suryian passed through Rahu, as we always knew he would!

 

Black Tigers!

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black 2Black Tigers! Koboi is with Jade Comfort just prior to the the showdown with Phra Rahu and Phra Hanuman at high noon, 2nd Sept 2018, Bangkok Biennale, Huai Khwang Ganesha Shrine, Din Daeng, Bangkok.

Image: https://www.facebook.com/niranjan.rajah/posts/1397058343762498:5https://www.facebook.com/jade.comfort

The Offering

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the offeringIn making my black jelly offering to Phra Rahu I learnt a Kata Bucha or (Gatha Pooja in Sanskrit.) Kata is the Thai term for an Incantation or Prayer used instrumentally in worship, veneration, invocation and magic. I learnt the Kata Prha Rahu Kam Duang to recite as part of my offering to Rahu from Ajarn Spencer’s online teaching.  Phra Hanuman, presented by Jariya Laoriendee, is watching the ritual offering of Suriyan (the Sun) to Phra Rahu . Of course it in the tussle for the Sun (which the young Hanuman thought was a mango) with Rahu that Hanuman got his name – Broken Jaw!

Encounter with Rahu

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rahu candleIn the Hindu/Buddhist cosmos, eclipses are conceived of and anticipated in terms of the points of intersection of the paths of the Sun and the Moon as they move across the sky.  Rahu is the name for the north lunar node which, in mythological representation, is the Asura (Demon) Rahu who  regularly swallows and ejects the sun, causing its cyclic obscuration. In Thai custom, Phra Rahu, who is considered to be the essence of darkness and the harbinger of ill fortune, is ritually placated with various black offerings that are believed to mitigate his maleficence. People make offerings  of black grapes, black liqueur, black coffee beans, black jelly, black beans, black sticky rice, black Thai cake and black fermented eggs. In the course of my performance, at the Huai Khwang Shrine, I lit a black candle for him and then made a special offering Black herbal jelly in the form of  the Suriyan (the Sun) or as he is know in Thailand, Phra Athit.

https://www.thaiworldview.com/bouddha/animism3.htm

 

Suriyan Jelly

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suryian jelly cropjpg

At the heart of the Bangkok Biennale edition of Cowboys and Indians is an antique terracotta of Suriyan from South India with which I re-enact the mythic entanglement of Phra Rahu and Phra Hanuman. In the Hindu/Buddhist cosmos, Suriyan (the Sun) is the central Graha of the Navagrahas or 9 planets. He is an emanation of Lord Vishnu the sustainer and nourisher of the material universe. In Thailand the Navagraha are known as the Nopakroh and Suryian is known as Phra Athit. For the performance  a  food-grade silicone mould was made from the terracotta and from this mould a Black herbal jelly Suryan was made and offered to Phra Rahu.

Black Hat Thai Style

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dumnew

The Koboi performance for the Bangkok Biennale 2018 references Wisit Sasanatieng’s highly stylized and beautifully colourized 2007 film, Fah Talai Jone (Tears of the Black Tiger), in which the character of Dum gives the cliche of the ‘black-hat cowboy’ a Rahuesque intensity!  Ultimately Cowboys and Indians: Bangkok Edition is, like Sasanatieng’s film as I understand it, a paean to almighty Buddha for his compassion​.

Yoo hoo hoo hoo
I’ve been crying for your mercy
Does anyone have some mercy for me

Yoo hoo hoo hoo

From the lyrics of Mercy by Leud Prasomsap
(as translated in the subtitles of Tears of the Black Tiger DVD)

image: http://www.badmovies.org/capsules/t/tearstiger/

Making Suriyan Jelly

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black jelly girls4

I was supported in realizing my performance at the Huai Khwang Ganesha Shrine, Bangkok by Jade Comfort and her family. The night before the performance  I made Black herbal Suriyan jelly to be offered to Phra Rahu. I prepared and poured the jelly into a food grade silicone mould with the able assistance of Lumina and Paloma.

https://koboibalikkampung.wixsite.com/rahu/suryan

 

Blessing with Hanuman Mask

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kru

As the first part of my performance at the Bangkok Biennale 2018, I visited the Wat Thephakorn Occupation Training Centre at Charan Sanitwong Soi, Bang Plad on the afternoon of the 31st of August. I went there to meet Khun Patchanee Liangsorn, daughter and protege of the master Khon mask-maker and respected teacher, Khun Sathaporn Liangsorn. Khun Patchnee, who was once a Khon and Likay dancer, has kept up the family tradition of Khon mask making. She is also known to be a generous and respected teacher (Khru) in her own right. I had been trying to communicate (through language difficulties) with Khun Patchanee, prior to my departure for Bangkok, about the possibility of obtaining and ritually animating a Hanuman mask for the performance. I am honored to note that when I arrived at Wat Thephakorn, Khun Patchani saw fit to open the eyes of a Hanuman mask for me and to perform an informal blessing with the mask for my upcoming performance.