EXPERIENCE THE UNDERWATER ART EXHIBITION ‘SEA OF REFLECTIONS’ BY MACKCHA AT SEA LIFE BANGKOK OCEAN WORLD
TEXT: NATHATAI TANGCHADAKORN
PHOTO COURTESY OF SEA LIFE BANGKOK OCEAN WORLD EXCEPT AS NOTED
(For Thai, press here)
From the outset, Chalotte—the girl with short, white hair and a billowing light blue dress—has been inseparable from the sea. In the work of Chararat Saraaporn, or Mackcha, she is always surrounded by an array of marine creatures. Those who visited Deep in Mind Sea, Mackcha’s 2023 exhibition, or read the accompanying articles would already be familiar with this affinity. For the artist, the ocean is more than a source of comfort or fascination; it is a subject of devotion, a space to protect, and a medium through which she articulates the fragile beauty of marine life.
Photo: Nathatai Tangchadakorn
Now, Chalotte steps beyond the canvas, emerging from her familiar expanse of deep blue into SEA LIFE Bangkok Ocean World at Siam Paragon. Here, she appears in both 2D and 3D, shifting between dimensions across different zones. She is at once a figure in her own right and an unassuming spectator, lingering at the edges, watching creatures move freely through their aquatic domain. The exhibition unfolds as a journey, guiding visitors toward answers that emerge through the act of observing. It begins with a deceptively simple question: Who am I? Mackcha uses this as a thread, weaving together the works so that each piece—and the immersive experience of the underwater world—invites a moment of introspection, aligning seamlessly with the exhibition’s title, Sea of Reflections.
Photo: Nathatai Tangchadakorn
To preserve the intrigue of the hidden answers, this article takes on the imagined perspective of Chalotte as she moves through the exhibition. It begins with Shark Walk Aquarium Experience, where viewers find her drifting serenely through a space transformed by projectors into a vibrant, cartoon-like underwater world. Wearing an endearingly oversized stingray headpiece, she floats along, letting the interactive wave effects ripple beneath her—an illusion created by overhead sensors that respond to visitors’ movements. Next, she arrives at Rockpool Inhabitants, a section already distinctive for its hands-on engagement, where visitors are invited to gently touch sea stars under the guidance of aquarium staff. Here, Chalotte has changed into a sea star headpiece, though she takes a step back, settling into the scene as a quiet observer while the experts take the lead.
Rock Pool in Rockpool Inhabitants zone | Photo: Nathatai Tangchadakorn
A few steps further, visitors enter the Jellyfish Universe, where Chalotte appears with an entire swarm of illustrated jellyfish by Mackcha, scattered across the walls. At the center of the composition, a small figure sits atop an enormous jellyfish, drifting through the darkened space. The room itself pulses with the bioluminescent glow of real jellyfish. Against this backdrop, Mackcha’s white, rounded jellyfish illustrations stand out in contrast. More than just creatures of the deep, these jellyfish take on a symbolic role: a gentle but persistent force, nudging one forward with quiet resilience. From here, Chalotte allows herself fade into the background, slipping away into the ‘Tropical Ocean’ exhibit to watch the swirling schools of fish. This time, it is the visitors who are invited to step into her perspective. An installation featuring the goldfish from Golden Time and the stingray from Overshadow encourages them to engage with the scene through their own lens—framing and capturing their own images.
Jellyfish Universe
Jellyfish Universe
And so, the journey reaches its climax: the Ocean Tunnel. Rather than imposing on the vast glass canopy above, Mackcha turns her attention downward, integrating her work into the path beneath visitors’ feet. The delicate bubble motifs.subtly threaded through the exhibition since the entrancelead to Chalotte, waiting inside a tank at the Ocean Theater, her final appearance in the show. From the question posed at the start, she has arrived at an answer. She may not yet be able to say exactly who she is, but she knows what she wants to be. And that, in itself, is enough—an unfiltered expression of self, articulated with the same quiet honesty that has guided her throughout this journey.
Ocean Tunnel | Photo: Nathatai Tangchadakorn
Some might dismiss Chalotte’s final declaration—’I want to be a shark’- as a child’s passing whim. But perhaps the answers we spend our lives searching for were never meant to be complicated in the first place. Why must we engage with ourselves through the measured logic of adulthood, when the clarity of our dreams and desires has always belonged to childhood? The time when we were most certain, most unafraid, was never when we saw the world with the rationality of experience, but when we pursued it with unfiltered hope. Maybe the way forward is to take those early dreams as a destination, using everything we’ve learned along the way to refine them—without letting experience become the reason we abandon them.
Activity Card
Activity Card | Photo: Nathatai Tangchadakorn
Sea of Reflections runs from March 5 to June 30, 2025, at SEA LIFE Bangkok Ocean World. For those eager to visit Chalotte and her oceanic companions, keep your eyes open—beyond the artworks themselves, the exhibition also features an activity where visitors can collect stamps of Chalotte throughout the space.
