Next week, artefacts related to political violence will be displayed at Sappaya-Sapasathan, Thailand’s parliament building in Bangkok. The exhibition, ความรุนแรง (ต้อง) ไม่ลอยนวล, has been organised by the parliamentary Committee on Legal Affairs, Justice, and Human Rights. Its title translates as ‘violence (must not be) unpunished’, emphasising the lack of legal consequences for political violence, and the injustice of such impunity.
Items on display will include a ฿100 banknote retrieved from the body of a sixteen-year-old boy, Imron, a victim of the Tak Bai tragedy. Two bloodstained shirts will also be displayed: a red t-shirt worn by Payu Boonsophon (who was blinded in one eye by a rubber bullet while protesting near the APEC summit in 2022), and a white shirt worn by another protester, Sirawith Seritiwat (who was attacked by thugs in 2019). The exhibition will also feature rubber bullet casings and tear gas canisters fired by riot police at Din Daeng in 2021. Most of the artefacts are from the collection of the Museum of Popular History.
The exhibition runs from 19th to 25th May. Imron’s banknote — one of seventeen personal belongings of Tak Bai victims in the collection of the Deep South Museum and Archives — was previously included in the Heard the Unheard (สดับเสียงเงียบ) exhibition in 2023. Last year, the seventeen items were also shown at exhibitions in Bangkok and Narathiwat.
Items on display will include a ฿100 banknote retrieved from the body of a sixteen-year-old boy, Imron, a victim of the Tak Bai tragedy. Two bloodstained shirts will also be displayed: a red t-shirt worn by Payu Boonsophon (who was blinded in one eye by a rubber bullet while protesting near the APEC summit in 2022), and a white shirt worn by another protester, Sirawith Seritiwat (who was attacked by thugs in 2019). The exhibition will also feature rubber bullet casings and tear gas canisters fired by riot police at Din Daeng in 2021. Most of the artefacts are from the collection of the Museum of Popular History.
The exhibition runs from 19th to 25th May. Imron’s banknote — one of seventeen personal belongings of Tak Bai victims in the collection of the Deep South Museum and Archives — was previously included in the Heard the Unheard (สดับเสียงเงียบ) exhibition in 2023. Last year, the seventeen items were also shown at exhibitions in Bangkok and Narathiwat.
Payu and Sirawith’s shirts were previously part of the Evidences of Resistance [sic] (วัตถุพยานแห่งการต่อต้าน) exhibition at Thammasat University’s Museum of Anthropology, from 20th February to 26th May 2023. Sirawith’s shirt has also been shown at the Murdered Justice (วิสามัญยุติธรรม) and Never Again (หยุด ย่ำ ซ้ำ เดิน) exhibitions.
Evidences of Resistance was held in room 112 of the museum, in a coded reference to the lèse-majesté law, which is article 112 of the Thai criminal code. Similarly, the film Arnold Is a Model Student (อานนเป็นนักเรียนตัวอย่าง) featured a table labelled ‘112’ in a school computer lab. The play Wilderness (รักดงดิบ) included a recipe stating that food should “dry in the sun for 112 hours”. The catalogue for Wittawat Tongkeaw’s exhibition Re/Place cost ฿112, and some of his paintings measure 112cm². Two poetry books — เหมือนบอดใบ้ไพร่ฟ้ามาสุดทาง (‘we subjects, as if mute and blind, have found ourselves at the end of the line’) and ราษฎรที่รักทั้งหลาย (‘dear citizens’) — were each priced ฿112. Elevenfinger’s single Land of Compromise was released at 1:12pm. The documentary 112 News from Heaven features 112 headlines from a 112-day period, and 112 photographic portraits.
Evidences of Resistance was held in room 112 of the museum, in a coded reference to the lèse-majesté law, which is article 112 of the Thai criminal code. Similarly, the film Arnold Is a Model Student (อานนเป็นนักเรียนตัวอย่าง) featured a table labelled ‘112’ in a school computer lab. The play Wilderness (รักดงดิบ) included a recipe stating that food should “dry in the sun for 112 hours”. The catalogue for Wittawat Tongkeaw’s exhibition Re/Place cost ฿112, and some of his paintings measure 112cm². Two poetry books — เหมือนบอดใบ้ไพร่ฟ้ามาสุดทาง (‘we subjects, as if mute and blind, have found ourselves at the end of the line’) and ราษฎรที่รักทั้งหลาย (‘dear citizens’) — were each priced ฿112. Elevenfinger’s single Land of Compromise was released at 1:12pm. The documentary 112 News from Heaven features 112 headlines from a 112-day period, and 112 photographic portraits.