Yesterday, to mark the third year of lawyer and activist Arnon Nampa’s jail sentence, the Pridi Banomyong Institute in Bangkok held a live painting session, Impression of Arnon, during which six artists produced artworks inspired by Arnon.
The participating artists were Charinthorn Rachurutchata, MM.Kosum, Setthawuth Komarakul Na Nakorn, Wittawat Tongkeaw, Madeaw Srilarnyaiprik, and Tanis Werasakwong. The event was organised by iLaw, and was part of a series of activities about Arnon titled Unforgotten.
Madeaw painted a portrait of Arnon surrounded by the word ‘fight’, based on a message Arnon had written to the artist during his court case. The iLaw website notes that Madeaw’s art became more political in solidarity with the three-finger protest movement that began in 2020 (“มะเดี่ยวยังเล่าด้วยว่า แรงบันดาลใจสำคัญที่ทำให้สร้างงานศิลปะที่เกี่ยวกับการเมืองคือ เมื่อเห็นการชุมนุมของผู้คนในปี 2563”). This political awakening is known in Thai as ta sawang.
For her collaborative work Draw Together, MM.Kosum created a tall stack of paper on which visitors could draw anything related to freedom of expression. The artwork was displayed in a column, like a tree trunk, as the artist views activists as having the potential to grow like trees.
Setthawuth Komarakul Na Nakorn produced a work inspired by Shepard Fairey’s Obey stencil. Setthawuth’s Disobey features a portrait of Arnon painted onto a collage of photographs of him.
Tanis Werasakwong painted Arnon on a beach with his children, an experience that Arnon is deprived of due to his jail sentence. iLaw quotes Tanis as saying of Arnon and the painting: “เป็นเรื่องธรรมดาๆ เพราะนี่คือชีวิตปกติที่เขาควรจะได้” (‘it’s normal, and he should have a normal life’).
Arnon’s graduation gown was on display at the event, and Wittawat’s painting เชื่อมั่นและศรัทธา (‘belief and faith’) shows the gown against a blue background (a symbolic colour that the artist has used in many other works). It also features dots whose colour is a combination of red and orange, symbolising for the artist the hope that red-shirt and ‘orange movement’ pro-democracy supporters will join together. Wittawat’s previous paintings Blues Square and Captain Justice (ทนายอานนท์) are also portraits of Arnon.
