Parodical Exhibition

Parodical Exhibition (เกรียนบ้าน เกรียนเมือง), an exhibition of satirical political art organised by the Museum of Popular History, opened today at Kinjai Contemporary in Bangkok. It runs until 19th July.

There are several iconic photographs of the events at Thammasat University that led to the 6th October 1976 coup, including a photo taken by Kraipit Phanvut that shows police colonel Watcharin Niamvanichkul aiming his pistol while nonchalantly smoking a cigarette. Parodical Exhibition features a 2023 image by Lucky Leg that manipulates Kraipat’s photo, replacing the pistol with a petrol pump nozzle.

Kraipat’s photograph has been parodied by numerous other Thai artists over the years, and — including Lucky Leg’s petrol pump — there are at least a dozen different versions of it. These include photomontages, paintings, and recreations in films and videos.

Manit Sriwanichpoom inserted his Pink Man character into the image for Horror in Pink (ปีศาจสีชมพู), a technique parodied by Anuwat Apimukmongkon. Spanky Studio superimposed a clown’s head over Watcharin’s face. In Déjà vu (เดจาวู), Headache Stencil replaced the pistol with a futuristic ray gun. For his Selfie Series (เซลฟี่ ซีรีย์), Chumpol Kamwanna depicted himself taking a selfie while adopting the same pose as Watcharin. The pose was also restaged in Anocha Suwichakornpong’s film By the Time It Gets Dark (ดาวคะนอง), Naphat Khunlam’s short film A Sleepless Entity, and View from the Bus Tour’s music video Sun Rises When Day Breaks (ลิ่วล้อ). Pornpimon Pokha’s Hidden Agenda No. 5 (วาระซ่อนเร้น หมายเลข 5) recreated the image in watercolour. The image also featured, alongside a drawing of a hanged student, on a large banner first displayed at red-shirt protests in 2010. Wana Wanlayongkoon’s painting The Gate of Hell (นรก 6 ตุลา) depicts the scene surrounded by flames.