Pelagan S, an illustrator, graphic and visual artist, was interested in the rawness of symbols and characters that appear on tattooed talismans. Although attracted to the original patterns, he wanted to create his own versions, so he extracted and redesigned the forms to be more modern and made paintings of them. He later presented the paintings to SAC Gallery's curators -- Patticha Thitithammaporn and Nutdanai Songsriwilai -- for exhibition. The curators, inspired by his work, developed the exhibition "Mu Te Lu: Ilmu Teluh" which features works of four artists -- Pelagan S, Eiair, Jun Sekino and Noon Passama.
In their research, the curators learned that the Thai term mu te lu, or superstition, came from an Indonesian movie titled Penangkal Limu Teluh, or Antidote For Witchcraft in English. Although that Indonesian movie refers to black magic, mu te lu for Thai people refers to a lucky charm.
