As I walked past fascinating displays of various, eclectic collections of different styles of Thai art at a museum, one of Thailand’s theatrical cultures that most captivated my interest was the art of Khon.
“There was something about the intricate, glittery fabric and the powerful voice of both the narrator and the Thai-style music that drew my interest. Furthermore, every element of the art reflected the creativity and the rigorous hours that were put into curating each immaculate scene to illustrate the story of Ramakian.”
This compelled me to conduct an exploratory examination of what I gleaned from the museum trip. That night, it was as if I’d traveled back to the museum and re-experienced the memorable tour twice. Which, I thought the resurrection period had somewhat commenced. At the so-called “night at the museum”, ideas become vivacious. Designs popped up in my mind like water reaching its boiling point and continuously pushing the pot lid upward as an indication.
The knowledgeable insights regarding different branches of art perpetuated me to write an article to recognize the interconnectedness between arts derived from the western world, particularly Drag, and Thai traditional performances–for instance–the art of khon. Most importantly, I aim to emphasize how both of the two performances could be used as an outlet of expression or advocacy for different prevalent issues.
In this article, we aim to spotlight the art of Khon and Drag, based on the information we’ve compiled from our esteemed interviewees, Pangina Heals–co-host of Drag Race Thailand– and Benjamin Tardif–International Khon performer.
All in all, I concluded that I wanted to write an article to illustrate the intersections between the honorable and expressive art of Khon and Drag.
According to the Source of Success crews’ exclusive interview series with Pangina Heals, “Drag is shaped by music, it’s shaped by fashion, it’s shaped by history, so depending on who does the art; but there’s one really important thing is Thai people are proud of who they are. You see that in what we wear, you see that in the hairstyle that reflects certain pride.”
Similarly, the art of Khon has also been influenced by history, music, and fashion.
As elaborated by Benjamin Tardif, “Khon is a very ancient art form. I think we can trace it back to the Ayutthaya period in Thailand, but we can go even further than that if we look at other countries–Cambodia, India, or Sri Lanka. So we can see, as well, that there’s some form of Khon or some kind of performing arts that’s related. Kohn is a dance drama or theatre where we perform the great story of Ramakian, which is the Thai version of Ramayana.
Based on Pangina’s understanding and experiences, “Drag is a performance where you put on a character, but with Khon, you cover your head, so you’re performing with your body. With drag, most of the time you do makeup, so it is performance art, I’d say.”
“With khon, you play that character, but with drag; you play a character that you envision, so there’s a part of you. It can be a part of your identity, it can be an escape, or it’s a character that you want to be.”
“Historically, drag has been rooted in Shakespearean times. What is going on is back in the day, females cannot be on stage, because of sexism. So, men have to play the characters of women.” Drag is an acronym that stands for Dress in a role resembling a girl. Pangina explained that back in the era of King Rama 6, women weren’t allowed to play certain roles, so men were required to fill in the roles and dress up as women.
Pangina asserted “Drag is me celebrating the feminine quality, of what it is that we call women-hood…you have to know what people think this word means..why am I hiding certain parts and highlighting certain parts?; it’s an art form. For me, I appreciate what it means to be a woman.”
In my opinion, based on my personal experience performing Khon, with the lack of facial expression when being fully masked, you’re limited to using your body to express the feelings and attitude of the character. One of the obstacles for novice performers is that it also limits your peripheral vision, resulting in you needing to master the movements and partially relying on muscle memory.
Additionally, the theatrical art of khon was initially performed only for special occasions, for example, ordinations and royal cremations. The dance later served as a source of entertainment and became popular among the public.
Benjamin comments that “You can bring this perspective of climate change, we can talk about issues in performances. Hanuman, the faithful monkey, and follower of Rama could cross over the ocean; go deep into the water and maybe there’s a lot of dirt, garbage, plastic.” There’re many different deviations to this if we were to incorporate the issues–for instance–climate change into the epic anecdote of Ramakien.
As explained, although Khon is an ancient form of art, we can potentially incorporate modifications and improvisations into the story to fit contemporary audiences.
In terms of Drag, the issue that it tackles is, it is a gender-bending art, in which a person dresses in different types of makeup and clothing to exaggerate a gender identity or the opposite sex. This challenges society by breaking barriers and encouraging people to think out of the box and experience what it’s like to view the world from another perspective. Moreover, it explores sexual ambiguity.
Taking everything into account, I think the two forms of art–khon and drag–are fundamentally different avenues of expression that were derived and influenced by different regions resulting in their nuances. Both forms of art have their uniqueness and could both be used as a way to communicate, accelerate advocate, and pioneer change.
Lastly, this article also aims to convey that the uniqueness of art is its magic.
In the same essence of recognizing the differences and overlaps of arts, we should embrace the qualities that make us feel unique!
— Writer Nathamon Silprachawong can be reached at n.hilight@gmail.com. Follow her on instagram @hilightsilprachawong and Hilight Silprachawong.
