Thai Politics no.4 (Bangkok Beauties)
Miti Ruangkritya
Self-Published
Softcover
92 pages
140 × 210 mm
2014
ISBN Not Available
Thai Politics no.4 vol.1 (Bangkok Beauties) presents a series of 86 images featuring female supporters of the People’s Democratic Reform Committee – taken from public Facebook and Instagram groups. The project serves to highlight the somewhat intriguing and curious ways protesters have begun assert their anti-government stance. The ‘selfie’ and portrait has become a prevalent part of youth culture and its manifestation within traditional displays of patriotism and politics, adds another dimension to the discussion concerning status, self-projection, and identity in the rise of social media.
Thai Politics is an ongoing series developed from the first major protest in Bangkok since 2006. Whilst exploring the differing political attitudes in Bangkok, the project also examines photography within an image rich world. Punctuating each addition to the series is not only a different dimension to people’s political views and behaviours, but also a different approach to how they are captured and presented. This includes curating images found across social media (Thai Politics no.2, 4, 7, 8 and 9) to the more traditional approach of digital and film photography (Thai politics no.1, 3, 5 and 6).
(Source https://sipf.sg/thai-politics/)
About the Artist
Miti Ruangkritya (b.1981 in Bangkok, Thailand) is a visual artist whose photography practice expands into the realms of video, text, and publishing to express his thoughts around the notion of the City. His prolific body of work, catalysed by his return to Thailand in 2010 following over a decade of education in England, chronicles personal responses to his everyday observations while articulating with sensitivity the urban urgencies of contemporary living. Spanning political upheaval, ecological change, dislocation, and economic inequalities, the range of topics explored across his oeuvre is further characterised by his extended and in-depth engagement with them, as evidenced by his varied and longstanding series of works such as Thai Politics (2006-ongoing), DREAM PROPERTY (2014-ongoing), and Sunset (2018-ongoing).Additionally he was shortlisted for Kassel Book Award in 2015. He produced 2 books including Sathorn Sunset and 1 Square Metre of Soil with Onestar Press.
mi-ti.com
