Yesterday was the fiftieth anniversary of the bloodbath at Thammasat University on 6th October 1976. An iconic photograph, taken by Neal Ulevich, has come to represent the entire event, and this single image has been analysed and reproduced so much that even its background details have inspired dozens of artists.
Amongst the goulish onlookers captured by Ulevich, a young boy with a broad smile stands out from the crowd. This child, who would now be a middle-aged man, has never been identified, though he has been portrayed in paintings, graphics, films, and even as a mini sculpture. Krit Chantranet’s recent painting Smile is an etereal portrait of the boy. A colourised version of the boy appears on a bookmark sold with a new book marking the fiftieth anniversary, edited by Kasidit Ananthanathorn.
Amongst the goulish onlookers captured by Ulevich, a young boy with a broad smile stands out from the crowd. This child, who would now be a middle-aged man, has never been identified, though he has been portrayed in paintings, graphics, films, and even as a mini sculpture. Krit Chantranet’s recent painting Smile is an etereal portrait of the boy. A colourised version of the boy appears on a bookmark sold with a new book marking the fiftieth anniversary, edited by Kasidit Ananthanathorn.
Khai Maew created a miniature plastic model of the child, called Happy Boy, in 2016. A drawing of the boy appears on the cover of เด็กดีของประเทศที่ไร้อนาคต (‘good children in a country with no future’), vol. 7 of the journal ชายคาเรื่องสั้น (‘roof short stories’), published in 2016. Matichon Weekly (มติชนสุดสัปดาห์) created a graphic of the boy wearing 3D glasses to illustrate an article by its columnist Kam Phaka. (The column appeared in the 7th October 2016 issue, though the graphic only appeared on the magazine’s website.) The boy also appears in The Forest of Recurrence, a 2015 painting by Kampanart Sangsorn. Ing K. painted the boy in watercolour for her series Where Are They Now? (ไทยมุง) in 2008, and the portrait appeared on the cover of the Flashback ’76 (อดีตหลอน) exhibition catalogue.
Ukrit Sa-nguanhai’s short film The Pob’s House (บ้านผีปอบ) is a powerful reminder of the persistence of mob violence, and features a little boy turning to the camera and grinning, in a reference to the smiling boy in Ulevich’s photo. Chookiat Sakveerakul’s science-fiction epic Taklee Genesis (ตาคลี เจเนซิส) dramatised the events of 6th October, and in one shot, a young boy stands alone on a balcony laughing at the carnage.
Ukrit Sa-nguanhai’s short film The Pob’s House (บ้านผีปอบ) is a powerful reminder of the persistence of mob violence, and features a little boy turning to the camera and grinning, in a reference to the smiling boy in Ulevich’s photo. Chookiat Sakveerakul’s science-fiction epic Taklee Genesis (ตาคลี เจเนซิส) dramatised the events of 6th October, and in one shot, a young boy stands alone on a balcony laughing at the carnage.
