This elephant is a commission from Mrs. Pin. It carries, as always, a symbolic nature. Mrs. Pin is a down-to-earth personality, attached to family, cultural and religious values like many Cambodian families.

Kris Marko has thus created a thick, cracked orange background reminiscent of both Cambodian laterite soil and the orange robes of Buddhist monks. On either side of the trunk, distant shadows suggest a pagoda, a place of contemplation and transcendental connection, and the towers of Angkor Wat, the cradle of Khmer history.

From these two landscapes, golden streaks symbolizing life paths depart and converge to form the elephant’s trunk. At this junction point, the artist has affixed nails. These elements represent the construction of the clan structure to which Mrs. Pin belongs. Higher up in the trunk, one can see cords crossing widthwise, glued in an ‘X’ shape, depicting the family (‘the ties’). Further up, toward the forehead of the pachyderm, golden collages between two wings allegorize Buddhist transcendence and the elevation of consciousness upwards. Above that, a stylized piston engine serves as a metaphor for the brain, thought, intelligence, and creativity. And above that, a halo of white light pierces the top of the elephant’s skull and connects with the sky.

On either side of this vertical structure/narrative, the ears feature gold drips at their tips that extend towards the central column, as if to bring material wealth to family elevation, but which is external to the structure, optional, enhancing but not necessary.

A serpent enters the elephant’s ear, perhaps indicating birth, fertility, Mrs. Pin’s daughter.

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