Tag: Politics of Thailand

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia — Petani Semasa is a significant exhibition on contemporary art about the Patani region of Southern Thailand, that privileges local artists. Currently on display at the Ilham gallery in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, the works are deeply complicated, and largely unsettling. Featuring 27 artists, the show never resolves into a unified voice, but showcases the diversity of practice and experience of the region. Patani Semasa adopts poetic means of representation from a region largely internationally defined by its enforced marginality. This conflict has been simmering for decades, perhaps peaking in 2004 with the Tak Bai incident wherein approximately 78 men were tragically killed by Thai police (some reports put the number of the dead higher). While the majority of the artists of Patani Semasa deal with the contentious politics of the region, they don’t propose solutions, or lean on simplistic answers. While many works on display are dark and violent, the exhibition is successful because of its much more subtle, even quotidian representations of the Patani region, which are equally worthy of our consideration. Another powerful work made from local materials is Jamilah Haji’s, “The Spirit of Faith 7,” (2011). Like Waji’s work, the figures in “The Spirit of Faith 7,” are expertly crafted and really pop from the frame, though with a dramatically different affect. Everyone can appreciate a good meal.

IN SWELTERING heat at Ayutthaya Historical Park north of Bangkok, Thailand’s capital, a bevy of beautifully clad ladies strut ostentatiously in their silky traditional costumes, known as chut thai. They are among thousands who visit daily to have their pictures taken amid the scenic ruins of the old city of Ayutthaya, destroyed by Burmese invaders in 1767. Many of the tourists are not really there for the remains. Ayutthaya is the setting of a television series called Buppesannivas or “Love Destiny”, which has broken audience records in Thailand and stirred the nation into a frenzy of sartorial nostalgia. It is a time-travel love story about a woman in contemporary Thailand who is reincarnated in ancient Ayutthaya. In front of an old royal temple, Wat Chaiwatthanaram, half a dozen women dressed in the protagonist’s iconic pink chut thai wait their turn for a professional photo shoot. Most visitors are Thai, but there also many foreigners—the soap is also being screened elsewhere in the region, including Vietnam, Laos, China and Russia. Citizens were encouraged to attend in traditional wear and take part in retro-themed activities such as garland-making. Mr Prayuth’s efforts to harness Thai culture to his own political ends are sometimes more blatant. Mr Prayuth has appeared in selfies with the cast in traditional wear (see picture).