HUSBAND and wife painters Jay-da and Watcharin Rodnit have taken their art into Phuket’s youth prison where they are helping to make life a little easier for the young prisoners.
They run regular art classes for the kids and are helping them to turn their lives around.
When they are not ‘behind bars’, Jay-da and Watcharin run an art studio in Yaowarat Road in Phuket Town.
Wacharin says he was born to be an artist and holds a masters degree in Fine Arts from Silpakorn University. As a boy, he spent many weeks meditating in the forests around Surat Thani where he grew up.
Inspired by nature’s endless complexities and colours, Watcharin reproduces these in his highly-detailed abstract expressionistic paintings, overloaded with exotic hues and textures.
Jay-da, by contrast, learned her art in the ‘school of life’ and has no formal qualifications.
Her vivacious enthusiasm and magical, childlike qualities overflow into her bold, vibrant abstract creations.
Although very different in every respect, the two artists blend their individual qualities into a harmony that portrays their thoughts on the greater issues of life, such as their belief that, ‘everyone can live together happily in this world if we understand and accept the difference of each other.’
“Although we bring entirely different perspectives to the whole panorama of life and art, we express ourselves individually and we can see that our work is harmonious and contributes to our greater view of life, opposite sides of the same thing,” said Watcharin.
The two became successful artists, showing at numerous exhibitions and were soon busy meeting the growing demand for their artwork.
But they spent a major part of their time working on their own teaching initiatives.
Some children asked them to teach them drawing which brought back memories of Jay-da’s own difficult childhood.
She was discouraged and abused by her father when she showed an interest in art.
Her parents separated when she was young and she spent many years being passed back and forwards between them, ‘like a football that nobody wanted to keep’.
Jay-da wanted to show Phuket’s disadvantaged kids how it was possible to succeed, despite heavy odds by teaching them art.
The number of students escalated rapidly, and with the support of her husband, she taught the children, paying for the materials out of her own pocket.
She found that providing opportunities for students who were in need was more rewarding than amassing the trappings of a better lifestyle for herself.
Her friends suggested she should wait until she could afford it.
“Can you promise me that I will eventually become a rich artist?” she told them.
“If you can’t, I will continue my projects, because the children can’t wait for me to become rich.”
Jay-da offered support to groups such as the autistic children in Phuket, brightening their life with fun-packed art classes and her own unwavering belief in their hidden abilities.
Then Jay-da was asked to judge an art exhibition at the Phuket Youth and Child Penitentiary.
She felt extremely sad when she saw the prison children, young kids from eleven to seventeen, who seemed to hate everything about the world around them.
Remembering how she struggled to overcome her own difficult childhood Jay-da felt she had to try to help these kids.
“These kids weren’t strong enough to wait for someone to come and care about them, but although I realized I couldn’t change the world in one day, but felt I could make a difference,” she said.
“I thought ‘I could die tomorrow and then I could never have made a difference’ and I decided to start there and then.”
Jay-da talked to the director of the prison and volunteered to offer her time and money to try to help, and her ‘behind bars art scheme’ was born.
Jay-da and Watcharin paid for all the materials out of their own pockets, but their reward was seeing how the young people responded to their calm, gentle guidance.
An amazing sense of mutual caring and sharing seems to emanate from everyone involved.
The kids help each other, place tables and erect easels for each other, and put them away again when the class is finished.
The look of anticipation on the youngsters’ faces is a picture to behold as pencils and paper are distributed and the sketching gets under way.
The students are divided into two groups and each given different pictures to copy while Jay-da and Watcharin explain the various artistic techniques.
There were some clearly talented individuals and it was a pleasure to watch their fulfilment as they sketched away, creating their own individual interpretations of the scene.
Some of the youngsters seemed so young and so innocent to be in such a predicament, but the institute actually offers these kids a stabilising, safe environment where they can be rehabilitated and reformed, away from the root causes such as family problems.
I was impressed with the way the Institute encourages staff to show respect to the prisoners in order to expect the same in return.
All of the inmates are encouraged to develop a thoughtful attitude and to work together with respect.
Jay-da and Watcharin’s art sessions complement this perfectly, and everyone shares paints and materials in a happy collaboration.
At break time, out came the ice cream machine, another little treat provided by Jay-da and Watharin.
Jay-da said their classes at the penitentiary were greatly appreciated.
Staff shortages at the institute mean that time for recreational activities is limited, and many Thai people decline invitations to help because of a misplaced fear of what lies behind the prison walls, or a belief that it might be unlucky.
With her bubbly enthusiasm, Jay-da shares the insight she had at a young age that she could either wallow in self-pity and be eaten up by anger about life, or she could fight.
“Anything is possible if we are determined enough,” she said.
Jay-da and Watcharin own and operate Rinda Magical Art on Yaowarat Road in Phuket.