Like many of her generation in Thailand and Southeast Asia, Parinda Mai grew up with the story Phra Ros Meri (‘12 Sisters’ - นางสิบสอง), communicated to her in various forms from children’s books to TV soap operas and cartoon animations; from local worship sites, Buddhist temples murals, to mountains and caves. It was fi rst and foremost recited to her by her mother.

Starting from this memory and curiosity, Mai’s ongoing project, 12 Kalpas from Forever to Yours | นิทาน 12 นิรันดร์, investigates a speculative relationship between this widely repeated story and her autobiography along with her observations of 21st-century human conditions within popular visual culture—cycles of progress and destruction.

Since 2019, the project has taken the forms of moving image, interactive installation, digital imagery, sculpture, performance, and collaborations with different collectives, mirroring the many faces that this myth has taken within the sites and psyche of the cultural history of Southeast Asia.

Through Mai’s ongoing study of evolutionary astrology, this project continues to evolve beyond the framework of this tale and its roots, fi nding the ruins of our zeitgeist a universally accessible place for a revolution to begin — from within.