Photography

[jlalitac]

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RESEARCH REPORT

Name 

Lalita Mukto

https://www.tumblr.com/blog/jlalitac

Major Project Title

(Or working title - how and why did this title develop?)

I am still unsure what I would like to title this project, There is a song called ‘ What My Country Has Got’ by Rap Against Dictatorship. This song came out in 2018 where the lyrics are about what the government has been doing and how it has affected. What makes this song so unique is the number of barbs directed at the military. One verse ends with “The country where both sides fear the army”. Other lyrics include: “Parliament house is the soldiers’ play yard. The charter is written and erased by the army’s boots”, “Even the Prime Minister is still picked by the army”. 

Research Methods

(What methods have you used during this phase of the project and how have they helped you

develop your ideas and inform your major project proposal?)

I was very unsure as I wanted my photographs to be at first and during this time with the coronavirus crisis, I found it even harder to produce this project. I wanted to show the outside world of how my country has done to its own people. How the riches robe  the poors. I went to a protest to get some photographs but it is hard to get a clear shot without faces. The reason is about private policy. There are journalists that published  their photographs but forgot to blur the face of the protesters, the police went after them. Even some students that went to the protest get detention or suspended from their school. 

Pilot Project

(What have you achieved through the development of your pilot project/s? What have you learned from the process? Identify the main concepts that might direct or drive your major project.)

The development of this project, I feel that I need to be a lot more patient with everything. First thing is that the shoot will not turn out how I would like them to be and it is even harder with a film camera as I will not be able to see it before I developed it. But after several times using it I have become more confident with using my film camera throughout this project.

I am glad that my idea is now what it should be with this series of images, also I have to admit that this project might put my life at risk after I published it.

Audience and Context

(Has a consideration of Context and Audience made you think about your project in a particular way? Have you been aware of the histories, conventions and audience expectations of particular contexts? Have you considered different contexts and how have you responded to them?)

There has always been a culture convention history, and this is something I want to show through my works. In history, we Thai people respect the King in many eras but then at this moment we feel that we are all human, we should have the same consistency. 

Production and Presentation

(Discuss the production methods you have been exploring through your pilot project. What effects do these different approaches/ visual strategies have on the work?  What choices have you made in the refinement of your visual approach and why? Is the approach you have chosen effective in communicating your ideas to the identified audience?)

At first, I was very unsure about how I want my photographs to be present. I have an instagram account where I upload most of my images onto it but with this project, there is a problem with privacy policy. I am not sure if there is a law against taking photos with faces on it. In some countries, I saw some photographers have blurred the faces off. So, I am considering my photographs and also about people who do not wish to be seen in the protest as it might cause damage to them. Eventually, I tried to choose the photographs that did not show any faces or as little as I could see. 

 Visual References / Bibliography

(List the key visual and critical references you have explored during the research process. Discuss how useful these references were for the project and what you learned from them).

  Sally Mann is my leading idea inspiration for  my project. I got some of her ideas about documentary photography and journalism. In her photographs she took photographs of her children but got offended by the faces policy of privacy. 

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Time Plans

BA (Hons) Photography

MAJOR PROJECT TIME PLAN

February

feedback about my images

Further photographs (if there is any others protests)

March

Asking for some helps from a friend who has held an exhibition 

Get some journalists to look at my photographs 

April

Try to organise an exhibition 

Try to have all the photographs gathering ready for big prints and framing

Layout a flyers or  small booklets

May

Flyer print complete

Maybe a business card?

(depend on how vivid-19 situation) 

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MAJOR PROJECT PROPOSAL

BA (Hons) Photography

MAJOR PROJECT PROPOSAL

This should be a clear, focussed and coherent proposal for the major project that you intend to produce in Semester 2 and should give the reader a clear sense of what the project will involve when read alongside the pilot project.

Project Title (or working title)

I am still deciding what I would like to title my work, I am thinking of ‘What My Country Has Got’. 

Subject / Concept (What the project is about?)

This project is about a protest that has been going on in Thailand since the military has taken over the country. The protesters are gathering at Democracy Monument in order to ask the government to consider 3 requests from Thai people

1) dissolve the parliament and re-elect the new government member who really come from people's vote,

2) re-draft the constitution to be more fair,

3) stop threatening Thai people who try to make a comment or speech about their opinions on the government's fault. 

I am thinking as a journalist and how they present their works. Some of The News reporters in Thailand are biased because they don’t want a problem with either the government or the King himself. It is a risk that I am willing to take to expose something like this. 

Aims (What do you want to achieve?)

I want to create a series of images that could show the world of what we Thai people have been dealing with. Hopefully one day we could have the real democracy and the real government who can actually manage the country. At least if I could have an online exhibition or just a normal gallery to show the images that have been taken from the protesters' side of view. 

Context / Audience (Where will it be seen / who is it for?)

These images will be for my final degree show probably through online exhibition which means I will use them to present to different people within the documentary industry. I think it is all for the global, surely all countries have their own problems but how it affected lives are different. 

Proposed form, medium, presentation (How will you execute it and present it?)

I will be photographing my works on my DSLR camera, canon 70D and SLR camera, Leica Contax t2 and probably medium format camera, Pentax 6x7. So far I would like to have a series of images lined up next to each other on the wall in an online exhibition.

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Numbers during 2014 Thai coup d'etat

162 civil cases were transferred to the military court

191 protesters were monitored by the National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO) during the election

At least  39 people were prosecuted in various charges using article 116.

At least 104 people seeking political asylum in foreign countries after being unlawfully summoned by NCPO

At least 197 civilians were charged with Computer Crime Act from speaking up about

politics online. 

53 were held captive in military prisons in Nakhon Chai Si and Thung Song Hong

6 possible enforced disappearances were reported, 3 were associated with the Thai Federation group.

732 people were charged for violating the NCPO's order and the Act which bans public gatherings

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Freedom, Humanity and Democracy

Thai Democracy was stolen 6 years ago by the currently military government. 

What led to Thailand’s 2020 protests

A timeline ; while a full account of what led to 2020 protests would go back nearly a century, here are the events and incendiary episodes that led to today from the past six years of military rule.

2014

Bangkok Shutdown : The year opened with whistle-blowing protests paralysing Bangkok in response to a political amnesty bill. Organisers from the opposition from the military to intervene. 

Coup XII : Army chief Gen. Prayuth Chan-o-cha staged a coup to ‘restore stability’, suspended the constitution and granted himself absolute power. He said democracy would return within a year.

Martial Law : Protests against the takeover grew creative after public gatherings were banned. Soon, the Junta had forbidden eating sandwiches and  reading George Orwell’s 1984. Activists, journalists and former politicians were taken into secret detention for ‘attitude adjustment.’ 

Corruption : 'Restoring stability was replaced by rooting out corruption' as reason to remain in power. Nepotism, graft and scandal ensued as Prayuth filled his cabinet with checkered figures, some of whom refused to even disclose their assets. The millionaire general struggled to explain his own wealth.

2015

Hard Time : The military regime framed the monarchy as being under existential threat, and August saw a record number of lese majeste cases. One man got 30 years in prison, while a Chiang Mai woman received a 28-year sentence. Their offenses? Facebook posts.

Single Gateway : After the junta's bid to controle online speech was refused by all major internet firms, it looked to reroute all traffic through a single gateway it would control. Netizens rose up, Anonymous attacked its infrastructure, and the authorities backed off again.

Rajabhakti Park : An early spending scandal came after the army skipped normal processes to spend 1 billion baht on a monument to past kings. Leaked details exposing unusually high costs invited accusations of graft. Complaint-filing activists were arrested. The army said it looked into the spending and found nothing wrong.

2016

Facebook : Eight people involved in producing social media content criticizing or satirizing the authorities were seized from their homes in dawn raids. Dubbed the "Facebook 8," two were later convicted and served brief jail sentences.

Super Cyberlaw : Revision of a controversial cyber crime law sold to the public as dialing back its abuse actually resulted in an even broader and vaguer law that gave the Junta cover to prosecute speech and retaliate against critics. It would also replace the lese majeste law in cases of royal defamation.

Rama X Ascends : Vajiralongkorn took the throne after the death of long-reining and revered King Bhumibol. He quickly placed the palace's vast wealth and portions of the military under his personal control and changed the constitution after the public had approved it.

Promises, Promises : As the years went by, the Junta's broken election promises became almost a running gag. Every few months, a new date was set only to be set aside. Hopes ran high in 2017 - everything would go "according to plan," a Junta spokesperson said. They didn't.

2017

Expensive Toys : With the military in power, it went on a massive buying spree, acquiring new fighter jets, tanks, weapons systems, armored carriers and, most infamously, several submarines from China.

Dismantling Democracy : Icons to the 1932 Revolution which ended absolute monarchy were secretly dismantled or destroyed. Most notably, a small scuffed brass marker commemorating its start vanished overnight and was replaced with one hailing the monarchy.

Vanishing Critics : Anti-monarchist and fugitive Wutthipong "Ko Tee" Kochathammakun was living in exile in Laos when he was reportedly abducted by armed men wearing hoods. A body later turned up in the Mekong River that DNA confirmed to be his.

Jailed for 'Sharing' : Activist Jatupat "Pai Dao Din" Boonpattararaksa was sentenced by Khon Kaen provincial court to two years and six months behind bars, guilty of insulting the monarchy and cyber crimes after he shared a BBC Thai biography of Vajiralongkorn. King 

2018

Dem Watches : Observers noted in a year-end photo that Deputy PM Gen. Prawit Wongsuwan wore one helluva expensive watch. Armchair detectives went back and found different ultra luxury timepieces worth millions on his wrist in many photos. He'd never mentioned them among his assets, leading to an investigation which cleared him he famously of wrongdoing as I declared he'd "borrowed" them from a dead friend.

Art Under Attack : A street artist painting under the name Headache Stencil said he was hounded by security forces after they painted over his mural about Deputy PM Prawit's watch scandal.

Cave Rescue : Despite being criticized for mismanaging a rescue that was pulled off thanks to foreign volunteers, Thailand's government received good press for the resoundingly successful rescue of 12 footballers and coach trapped in a cave.

Black Panther : A powerful construction tycoon became another icon of impunity after he was apparently caught red-handed eating a poached big cat inside a wildlife sanctuary along with a number of other dead, protected animals. Despite intense conviction, public pressure and a a Premchai Karnasuta has yet to spend time behind bars.

2019

An Election! : Going into the first vote since early 2014, Gen. Prayuth's ongoing rule was fait accompli under the new constitution, which solidified military rule by handing it the senate. Gerrymandering and Rewritten election rules did the rest. 

Nothing Changes : After a delay of 45 days, the military proxy Palang Pracharath Party came to power with the help of the military-controlled senate. Hopes for reform were pinned on the new third-place Future Forward Party and its progressive leader. 

Future Blocked : The Future Forward Party's charismatic leader was denied his seat in parliament based on a technicality: He'd once had shares in a company that printed in-flight magazines, and media owners cannot run for office.

2020

No Future : One of the last straws for those frustrated by years of military rule came when Future Forward was summarily disbanded by a political court. Denied any avenue through the system, its young supporters soon launched the largest rallies in years - just as a new virus was arriving from Wuhan, China.

IMDB Scandal Shadows : Years after accusations that PM Prayuth Chan-o-cha was tied up in Malaysia's massive IMDB scandal, the allegations were resurfaced by the Future Forward Party in the Parliament. Thailand had jailed a whistleblower, and the junta was accused of doing so as part of a "dark alliance" to protect Malaysian PM-turned Najib Razak, who was convicted in July 2020.

It's just ‘ flour ' : A key player in Prayuth's cabinet turned out to have spent four years in Australian prison for smuggling heroin. The regime said laws preventing ex-cons from serving didn't apply; he insisted the heroin was just "flour" and survived.

Eternal Emergency Decree : Conditions that defined five years of junta rule were reinstated with the stroke of a pen when Prayuth declared a state of emergency granting sweeping powers to enact curfews, limit travel and censor the media. It has remained in place months after the outbreak faded.

COVID Strikes : An economic force that once led the region only to be surpassed by its rivals, Thailand's outlook by July fell to last place in ASEAN and all of Asia as lockdown measures smothered growth which had already been languishing. Painful times led to a surge in the already- high suicide rate.

Another Critic Abducted : Pro-democracy activist-in-exile Wanchalerm Satsaksit was abducted near his apartment in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. He's thought to be the latest in a series of dissidents murdered on orders from the kingdom's highest authorities.

Protests Erupt, Taboos Teeter :  Massive crowds of between 10,00O to 20,000 people converged on the Democracy Monument to call for the government to step down and the constitution to be rewritten. Decades of longstanding taboo were shattered when campaigners issued 10 demands calling for royal reforms.

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Contact sheet 4 (film with red filters)

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Contact sheet 3 (film)

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Contact sheet 2 (black & white)

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Contact sheet 1

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Wat Mahathat

Wat Mahathat was situated to the east of the Royal Palace during the Ayutthaya Kingdom. In the present time, this temple is a part of the Ayutthaya Historical Park comprises of the ruins of temples and palaces.

As mentioned in the Historical Records of Luang Prasert, it was built during the reign of King Borommarachathiraj I in 1917 B.E. The Prang (cone-shaped tower) of this temple was built of laterite before it collapsed to the Garuda layer during the reign of King Songtham. It was not restored until the reign of King Prasartthong in 2176 B.E. then it was restored and extended using bricks, timber and plaster. However its dome collapsed again and remains porch base nowadays.

In 2499 B.E., Fine Arts Department excavated the evocative ruins at Wat Mahathat and found a cache containing many antiques, precious stones, and especially the Relics of Buddha which was well preserved in the silver and bronze stupas.

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Wat Chaiwatthanaram

Identified by cultural historians as the structure most emblematic of Buddhism’s influence on Thai society, the Buddhist temple of Wat Chaiwatthanaram was commissioned in 1630 by King Prasat Thong in the traditional Khmer style. The temple is situated 80 kilometers north of Bangkok, within the ancient city of Ayutthaya. Ayutthaya was the capital of the Siamese kingdom at the height of its power and influence, from 1350 until its besiegement by the Burmese army in 1767. While Ayutthaya was once a thriving economic center, Wat Chaiwatthanaram was until very recently a deserted ruin, subject to decay and looting, and encroached upon by unlicensed residential housing. Illegal housing was demolished in the 1980s, and in 1987 the Fine Arts Department of Thailand began conserving the site. Considered one of Thailand’s most significant monuments, Wat Chaiwatthanaram sits adjacent to the central area of Ayutthaya, which was inscribed on the World Heritage list in 1991. The site is also of paramount economic value to the local population, attracting thousands of tourists every week.

Situated atop a rectangular masonry platform, a thirty-five meter high central prang (tower-like spire) is surrounded by four small prangs, which are in turn flanked by eight merus, structures used as crematorium for some royal figures that sit outside the platform perimeter. Originally, paintings decorated the interior walls of the merus, and relief scenes depicting the life of the Buddha covered the exteriors. Buddha image statues also populated the merus, covered in gold. Unfortunately, fragments are all that remain of these decorative elements.

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Ayutthaya History

Founded in 1350 by King Ramathibodi I, Ayutthaya grew from a small town with mud walls on an artificial island on the Chao Phraya River into one of the largest, most cosmopolitan cities in Southeast Asia. With only one interruption, when it fell to the Burmese in the mis-16th century, it was the center of Thai power for more than 400 years, its rule extending over the entire Central Plains as well as many areas of the far east and south. The 33 rulers of Ayutthaya adopted the Khmer concept of divine kingship, complete with Brahminic rituals, and built spectacular palaces as well as great Buddhist monuments; most of major remains visitor see today were constructed in the city’s first 150 years. The peak of opulence came in the 17th century, when ships from all over the world sailed up the Chao Phraya to trade and Ayutthaya had a population of more than million. During the reign of King Narai, two French embassies came from the court of Louis XIV and a Thai embassy was sent to Paris. Ayutthaya power began to decline after the death of Narai, and a series of wars ensued with Burma. In 1767, after a 15-month siege, the city fell to an invading army that burned almost every building. Led by the future King Taksin, the Thais finally expelled the Burmese, but Ayutthaya was so thoroughly destroyed that the capital was moved further downriver to Thonburi, then Bangkok. The Ayutthaya Historical Study Center offers an overview of ancient Ayutthaya through models, dioramas and multimedia descriptions of life, culture and buildings. A branch of the Center stands in the former Japanese quarter.

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AYATTHAYA contact sheets

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Lightroom presents

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Siam is unquestionably the center of shopping in Bangkok, home to some of the most popular and important shopping centers in Bangkok, like MBK Center, Siam Discovery Center, Siam Center, and Siam Paragon.