Showing 1 - 10 of 27
Chasing a better life
Life, Thana Boonlert, Published on 11/08/2025
» Over two decades ago, Mai and his family took a train from Surin to Bangkok. Like other young people, they searched for better opportunities in the big city. Initially, they helped with chores in an exchange for shelter at a shrine. Soon, he found other jobs and a place to sleep. Since then, he has delivered charcoal to shops and collected trash. He toils long, back-breaking hours for 150 baht per day.
The rise of rental companions
Life, Thana Boonlert, Published on 22/07/2025
» A recent post on Facebook read: "Buddy Home Care is starting a new service called Children for Rent. It is for seniors in need of companions. Maybe they want to go to the doctor, shop, run errands, or want someone to accompany them. Maybe they just want someone to be there. We charge only 350 baht per hour. Please book a time slot in advance. Currently, the service is available in Chiang Mai. PS: Proceeds will go to seniors charity."
Cut from the same cloth
Life, Thana Boonlert, Published on 07/04/2025
» A second-hand sewing machine hums from a two-storey house in a remote village in Ra-ngae district of Narathiwat. Rahimah Saud has been at the helm since her early 20s. Going through seasons of life, the 49-year-old single mother is now sharing the spinning wheel with her daughters.
Reintegrating lost youth
Life, Thana Boonlert, Published on 07/04/2025
» Ruswadee Sa-i stopped going to school after completing lower secondary education at 15. However, he was considered too young to get a job, so for the next three years, he ended up hanging out with friends and helped his mum with household chores. Then, a knock on his door changed the course of his life. It was a youth worker who had come across his mum and worried about her son's limbo.
Memes of dissent
Life, Thana Boonlert, Published on 14/08/2023
» It is not as whimsical as it seems. After the onset of the largest pro-democracy movement since the military coup in 2014, university and high school students cuddled hamster dolls and ran around in circles. "Delicious tax!", hundreds of them sang, from a cartoon jingle at Democracy Monument in late July 2020. Crowdsourced from a social media platform, Hamtaro, a shorthand for caged mice demanding freedom, spawned many internet memes, including a greedy caricature of junta leader Gen Prayut Chan-o-cha.
Curtains for Chinese opera?
Life, Thana Boonlert, Published on 27/02/2023
» "Hurry up," shouted a crew member who climbed up onto a makeshift stage. Casting sidelong glances, performers, half-clad, looked in the mirror and concentrated on applying layers of make-up. Nearby, a motley bunch of musicians and technicians double-checked their instruments. A stream of chatter from a growing audience -- without any partition between the theatre and real life -- put unintended pressure on the band.
AI artist VAVA drops her first single
Life, Thana Boonlert, Published on 26/01/2023
» She can sing and dance, but she is not a human. VAVA, Thailand's first virtual artist, has released her first single DROP IT (Like A Bomb).
Freelance artists need rights protections, union says
Life, Thana Boonlert, Published on 06/12/2022
» A recent survey by the Creative Workers Union Thailand (CUT) shows that almost 80% of illustrators have commission-based, underpaid jobs, highlighting the precarity of freelancers who have no access to financial security, welfare benefits orlegal protection.
A hundred baht and a dream
Life, Thana Boonlert, Published on 14/06/2022
» Before a lucky draw this week, a middle-aged woman stared intently at a stall in front of Bangkok's shopping mall. She prayed and plucked three lottery tickets, 100 baht each, out of endless possibilities. "I hope you will win the prize," Sudta Tamnudee, a vendor, told her first customer.
Graffiti artist follows his rebellious roots
Life, Thana Boonlert, Published on 06/06/2022
» A daubed wall marks off a rundown area where makeshift houses were put up for rent, a stone's throw from a luxury condominium in the heart of Bangkok's Sathon. A 40-year-old man exits his car with pink luggage. He puts on a black hat and ties a small cloth around his head. He's wearing a long-sleeve checked shirt, shorts, and black sneakers and his socks are printed with cannabis patterns. Mue Bon, literally translated as "restless hands", opens his arsenal and begins to spray paint a rough sketch of the flightless black bird on the wall.