Photos: Spray-can satire creates headache for Thailand junta
Updated On Sep 25, 2018 11:57 AM IST
Thailand's junta chief caricatured as 'a lucky cat', a paw raised to rake in money, or his face crossed out by a thick, red line - daring graffiti is appearing across Bangkok as the city's walls become a canvas for political debate. The pioneer of the new wave of street artists is Headache Stencil, whose spray cans satirise the powerful in a country where free expression has been muted since a 2014 coup. Artists like Headache aim to communicate what they can’t through words, so they take to paint and public spaces, leaving messages for the masses and the junta elite alike.
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Updated on Sep 25, 2018 11:57 AM IST
A Thai artist who goes by the name of ‘Headache Stencil’ works in his studio in Bangkok. Dubbed Thailand’s “Banksy”, Headache -- whose nickname alludes to the pain he hopes to inflict on the mighty -- catapulted to fame in January with a piece skewering junta number two Prawit Wongsuwan, who was struggling to explain his collection of undeclared luxury watches. (Romeo Gacad / AFP)
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Updated on Sep 25, 2018 11:57 AM IST
The stencil art showing Prawit’s face inside an alarm clock was a jab at the lack of financial transparency by generals who seized power claiming that only they could save the country from untrammelled graft. It was a bold move in a country where simply reading George Orwell’s “1984” novel in public is deemed defiant and whose elite are quick to file criminal defamation charges. (Romeo Gacad / AFP)
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Updated on Sep 25, 2018 11:57 AM IST
Speaking at his Bangkok studio, Headache is unrepentant. “The root of street art is that people have no rights, no voice,” he told AFP, his face masked as much for a dramatic flourish as protection from authorities. “The aim is to spread the words we want to say but cannot. So we paint them for those who walk by... for officials or the general public to understand.” (Romeo Gacad / AFP)
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After the clock image went viral, police attempted to monitor the artist and city officials hit the streets to paint over subversive graffiti. Prawit insists the watches were borrowed from friends, but nine months later Thailand’s anti-graft body has yet to finish its investigation. Headache again stole the spotlight in March -- this time with graffiti showing a black panther crying tears of blood. (Romeo Gacad / AFP)
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Updated on Sep 25, 2018 11:57 AM IST
Headache Stencil spray-paints a graffiti on a fence in Bangkok. Much like “Banksy”, the British graffiti artist turned multi-millionaire art auction darling, Headache’s carefully maintained mystique adds to the allure of his work. And it has caught the imagination of a country where an increasing number of people are looking to art to dissect the anti-junta angst that lurks below the surface. (Romeo Gacad / AFP)
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Graffiti of Thailand’s junta chief depicted as ‘a lucky cat’ with paw raised to rake in money (L), with the work of London artist ‘Dotmaster’ (2nd R). “Street art has a fast life... you can cover it with paint but once it is on social media, it stays,” said Apinan Poshyananda, artistic director of the Bangkok Art Biennale which debuts next month and will feature other street artists. (Romeo Gacad / AFP)
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Updated on Sep 25, 2018 11:57 AM IST
Meanwhile a mushrooming number of galleries and studios are hosting dance and art performances addressing the kingdom’s toxic political culture and complex social issues in subtle ways that dodge censure. Among the Thai artists is Kawita Vatanajyankur, 31, (pictured) whose video installations allude to the notoriously poor working conditions in Thailand’s factories and fishing industry. (Romeo Gacad / AFP)
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Updated on Sep 25, 2018 11:57 AM IST
Headache works on a new graffiti next to his caricature of Kim Jong-un and Donald Trump pointing a gun. Kawita is part of a wider artistic awakening in Thailand, whose painters, sculptors and performers traditionally took inspiration from the establishment, but who are now confronting different themes. The launch of the Biennale will display work by headline names such as Marina Abramovic and the late Jean-Michel Basquiat. (Romeo Gacad / AFP)
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Updated on Sep 25, 2018 11:57 AM IST