Siimsi: An Analysis of Semiotic Meaning for the Creation of a Visual Art Project
Keywords:
Siimsi, Chinese-Thai ritual, Chinese-Thai culture, visual art, contemporary artAbstract
This article is a cultural study in the field of Chinese-Thai rituals focusing on the Chinese ceremonial equipment widely known in Thailand as Siimsi (Chinese lottery-poetry) during a time when the inheritance of Chinese culture is affected by mass culture and globalization. This research employed an analysis of semiology through field data collection and interviews with experts, followed by the integration of the body of knowledge from the humanities to visual art design to study the semiotic art in ritual devices and to create a visual art form, "21241". The article aims to analyze the semiotic meaning of Siimsi. The research shows that when disregarding the strict, chaotic and complex rules of the rituals, the semiotic meaning of Siiamsi, which reflects the essence and layers of perspective of people living in Chinese-Thai culture, is revealed. Such perspective includes 3 factors: supernatural beliefs, moral notions, and social structures, based on familial relationships built from a creative collision between man and nature.
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