I Have Never Been to Thailand

I made five enlarged copies of the souvenirs that were given to me. I have never been to Thailand, and I don’t know the context in which the souvenirs were created. I also do not know if they are replicas of traditional Thai statues, folk objects, or representations of the place itself. What draws me to these items is their visual appeal, along with their inherent qualities as souvenirs — objects that symbolize a kind of absence or unfulfilled longing. These souvenirs are physical reminders of a distant world, yet their meaning is shaped by my own experience of them. This project, in a way, explores the idea of compensation, where collecting or reproducing these objects serves as a way to create a symbolic connection to a place I have never physically visited. The sculptures differ from the originals only in the inscription, marking them as souvenirs not from Thailand, but from Slovakia and the Czech Republic. In this transformation, the objects take on new identities. Now, they have become souvenirs from places where I live and work.

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