Lives of the Buddha

My work is a way of telling stories and
interpreting things I have experienced through the skill I learned from my father.

• Phaptawan Suwannakudt

When Phaptawan Suwannakudt came to Sydney in 1996 she was eager to paint a mural. Back in Thailand, as the daughter of a leading Buddhist mural painter, she led a renowned team of painters. But the Buddhist centres of Sydney often occupied rented premises, and Phaptawan found her way blocked.

Determined to ‘make do with whatever surface was available’, Phaptawan purchased stretchers and canvas – materials new to her – and began this six-panel painting of ‘the lives of the Buddha’. The stories come from the Jataka tales from the 4th century BCE, some of the earliest Buddhist writings. Set in mythical kingdoms and forests, they advance virtues such as courage and patience which must be perfected to reach Buddhahood.

Phaptawan’s stories converse here with an array of Southeast Asian objects, including two refined Thai Buddha heads in flanking cases. The high finial on the nearby head is the Flame of Knowledge that also appears above some of Phaptawan’s Buddhas. Burning away selfhood, ignorance and suffering, this flame becomes visible when Buddha is on his way to enlightenment.