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Crazy Pablo: Land / Lie / Life
The land is territory, memory, a wound, and still something that continues to grow life.
Inbal Zakai
March 08, 2026
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After the Blast
Two long metal forms resting low to the ground, filled with growing green plants. But the calm shifts once you realize what these containers once were. They are not ordinary planters, but bomb casings that have been transformed into vessels for life. The work holds together two almost incompatible states - violence and growth, destruction and renewal, and places the land itself at the center: a surface that absorbs history, carries its scars, and yet continues to grow something new.
Fun Fact
Fun fact - or maybe not so fun at all: Laos is often described as the most heavily bombed country in the world per capita. Decades after the war, unexploded bombs are still scattered across the land, shaping daily life in ways that are both visible and invisible. In Phothyzan’s work, that history does not stay buried underground, it rises back up.
 Bombs turned into structures that hold small houses - pigeon lofts. And of course, pigeons… the birds that have long come to symbolize peace. | Think About ItThe plants growing from the metal are ferns, a common plant in the humid landscapes of Laos, and often among the first to return when disturbed soil begins to recover. These are days of war, and like many people around the world, we hope it will end as soon as possible - that people in their homes will no longer live in fear, that nights will become quiet again, and that life can return to its ordinary productivity instead of the constant shadow of death. The land remembers. But it also keeps reaching for life, for growth, for a new beginning. There is something both moving and quietly hopeful in that. And perhaps this is part of the quiet magic of art - the ability to take the materials of destruction and imagine them differently, to turn something that once carried death into a place where life can grow again. |
How does it relate to the here and now? or What to say during casual conversation to show off your art knowledge?
The Cycle of Life and Destruction - “I saw this artwork by a Laotian artist where ferns grow out of old bomb casings. It made me think about the strange cycle of life and destruction - how even the materials of war eventually return to the earth and become part of life again.”
The Alchemy of Art - “I came across this artwork where ferns are growing out of bomb shells. It made me think about the strange alchemy of art - the way an artist can take the very materials of destruction and turn them into something that speaks about healing, renewal, and life.”
Now have another Look!
And If You’re Up for More…
In the forests around Verdun in France, trees now grow over what was once one of the most devastated battlefields of World War I. Look closely and you can still see the soft craters left by artillery shells beneath the forest floor.
Even in cities, landscapes can hold memory. In Berlin, the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe creates a field of concrete forms that visitors walk through, a physical reminder that history is something we move through with our bodies, not just something we read about.
Till next time, stay curious and keep noticing what grows.
Hit reply or drop me a comment.
Yours,
Inbal Z M
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