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Writer's pictureKerry Morrison

Introducing Chumpon Apisuk


We have invited Chumpon Apisuk into our call centre bubble

Chumpon lives in Nan, a small rural village in Nan Province, Thailand


Chumpon Apisuk

Artist

Activist

Villager

Collaborator

Host

I can make art with what’s around me

In lockdown

In Covid19

in the year 2563

Chumpon made a pipe

Made to salute Rene Magritte 

Made as a community artist’s pipe

Made from Lychee timber

Packed with tobacco grown in the village

A pipe that cannot be launched in lockdown isolation

A pipe due to be lit by the Nan Artist group at the Arts Hall on 4 July, 2563 (2020)…



Chumpon's other works during lockdown include making rice whisky with his fellow villagers

They can’t go out to drink

So they make their own

From rice, which they grow

Distilled and matured in vats

Made from Bamboo

Which grows in the village

As we spoke, we wondered – and asked – could he share the rice whisky recipe?

Could we, perhaps, also make this sweet liquor?

We have some bamboo

And we can get Thai rice

Although, how much better if Chumpon could send some rice from his village

Thus supporting the village in the process

There are issues with rice growing and selling in Thailand. There is a monopoly, which prevents regional small farmers from selling and exporting their rice, much of which is ancient grain. The heritage rice of the different provinces is interconnected with culture, discrete habitats and local biodiversity. Regional farmers and environmental activists are striving to save the ancient grain varieties and local farming techniques. But, if the monopoly withstands, farmers will be forced to grow rice they can sell.

Our next meeting: what we can do together, distanced by miles yet united though Covid19?

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