Three Napping Cats

The rice paddies in northern Thailand have had a rather unique addition in recent weeks – a massive art display of napping cats. 

 

Three enormous felines, snuggling up with fish and snoozing, have popped up thanks to the hard work of a rice farmer. Tanyapong Kaikham, a full-time factory worker and part-time farmer, has tackled a pet project that turns flooded fields into art. 

 

Since October, he’s been spending his weekends in his hometown of Ban Khon Sung, in Chiang Rai, Thailand, and implementing his agricultural experiment using Rainbow rice.

 

Rainbow rice utilises various rice cultivars that have leaves ranging from dark purple to yellow. Working alongside an artist, they created a sketch of a sleeping cat and enlisted 200 helpers to use a drone and help ‘draw’ the cat on the paddy field.

 

As he explains: “The process begins with the artist designing a sketch. Secondly, we overlay this sketch onto the actual area and mark the locations using GPS coordinates that we've set. Thirdly, we plant Rainbow rice seedlings at each location to achieve the colors we've designated. During this phase, it's crucial to position the seedlings accurately and the rice plants will gradually change shades over time. Last comes the harvest stage, where the color of the rice straw will resemble the color of Cooper (the model cat)”.

 

[Note: FYI, Cooper (below pic) is the feline photographer who is an Internet sensation on Facebook].

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The feline photographer: Pictures taken by the timer-operated camera worn by Seattle, US-based Cooper the cat have sold for hundreds of dollars

 

The planting was done by hand to make sure each section had the correct rice color and harvest is expected 145 days after the planting.

 

Tanyapong says he was inspired by Japan’s Tambo art, or rice paddy art, which is known for its detailed designs created in rice fields using rice with different leaf colors. He said he hopes that by marrying it with art and science, it might help promote tourism and farming in his hometown – an hour’s drive from the Thai-Lao border.