The beaches of Pattani Bay, seen by ancient sailors, were said to glisten like jewels, as sunlight reflected off crystals in the surrounding fields of salt. The phenomenon gave a name to nearby Tanyong Luloh, which means “glittering peninsula”. Salt production is historically important to the culture and industry of Pattani province in Thailand’s deep south. Climate change and economic problems have led to a decline in salt farming, and most of the land is being lost to other industries. The remaining salt fields are strangely beautiful, but hardly visited and mostly underappreciated.

Field Work set out to make them glitter again, by placing 625 adjustable mirrors atop aluminum poles in a 50x50m grid, within an existing salt field. The mirrors are face-sized, eye-level, and placed to allow visitors to walk between them, atop existing earthen dams. They are aligned east-west, with altitude angles set in 10 degree increments, ensuring that each mirror transposes a different circle of sky, ground, or water from its neighbor. Viewed from the road, the mirrors glitter as the relationship between sun and observer changes.

Most local residents have never set foot in the salt fields before. As children, they were warned not to. As adults, why would they want to?

Field Work is an invitation to play. It’s an excuse to step down from the road, to risk wet feet and sunburn, to stand between the sky and its watery reflection, on land manicured by generations of grueling labor and artisanal knowledge. For a month of sunsets, the grid of mirrors came to life, as local people ventured out to see it, and to be seen in it. They adjusted the mirrors to get a better look at themselves. The work reflected the local landscape and community, literally and metaphorically.