NIKKEI: Thais see art in everyday objects of protest

Exhibitions and a mobile museum record the ephemera of political struggles

PHILIP CORNWEL-SMITH, Contributing writerJune 8, 2022 08:00 JST

BANGKOK -- Since 2005, my neighborhood in downtown Bangkok has often been the site of demonstrations. Two such gatherings extended into multimonth occupations that resembled Thai temple fairs in their creative mix of sociability, ritual, food, markets, music and parades.

As a writer on popular culture, I would tour the encampments, noting the stalls selling T-shirts, buttons and bandannas. Though mundane, such things are historical artifacts of Thailand's ongoing political upheaval. Much of it has been lost, but protest objects have suddenly emerged in several exhibitions.

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