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Mok Buakaow

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Julaporn

Julaporn (still)
Julaporn (still)


Statement

When I first arrived in the US, I noticed that people sometimes laughed when I told them my given name -- Julaporn. But in Thailand, the word "porn" has a very different meaning. It's the name of the king's daughter (and technically, no one else is supposed to use it) and means "silk." Commonly found in women's names, "porn" is a formal word for a blessing from God. So the name literally refers to the ceremonial silk one would present to monks at a Buddhist temple: prayer silk.

To reclaim the word and poke fun at the dirty-minded, I had a neon sign, of the kind seen in strip clubs and bars, made up of my signature -- with the "porn" part wired to flash on and off in garish pink. My goal is to both offer a little education about Thailand (a land often stereotyped by westerners for its sex trade) and make a joke about a case of mistaken identity.