Showing 1 - 10 of 10
Heritage on trial
Life, Thana Boonlert, Published on 14/01/2026
» For some, the Chao Mae Thapthim Shrine is a beacon of resistance against a larger force.
Creative destruction
Life, Thana Boonlert, Published on 16/06/2025
» Salinee Hanvareevongsilp's family moved home for a job opportunity when she was five and the land was subsequently developed into Siam Square in 1965. Still, it remained her favourite haunt. She frequented three movie theatres in the area -- Siam, Scala and Lido. In Matthayom 3, she protested against Japanese goods on Rama I Road.
Protecting urban memory
Life, Thana Boonlert, Published on 29/04/2025
» Penprapa Ployseesuay did not know her husband's family had been the guardians of the Chao Mae Thapthim Shrine until they married in 1997. She quit her factory job in Nakhon Pathom and relocated to Bangkok to start a family. Despite the departure of her husband, she has been unwavering in her caretaking duties.
The last stand
Life, Atitaya Teepawat, Published on 25/03/2025
» Hearts were broken when the Property Management of Chulalongkorn University (PMCU) greenlit the decision to raze Scala Cinema, the last stand-alone cinema in Bangkok, in 2020 despite opposition from activists who attempted to save the cinema's irreplaceable art deco architecture.
A vanishing heritage
Life, Thana Boonlert, Published on 10/07/2023
» If it were not for a handful of visitors, the Chao Mae Thap Thim Shrine would completely vanish. Flanked by metal sheet fences, a narrow alley leads to the remnants of age-old communities. An entrance is adorned with red lanterns. A facade is painted with mythological figures. A roof is embellished with tile dolls. The smell of burning incense wafts through the open gate. Inside, deities are worshipped on an altar with a gilded frame.
The last stand for Chao Mae Thap Thim
Life, Thana Boonlert, Published on 13/06/2023
» Surrounded by high rises, the Chao Mae Thap Thim shrine is holding out under a wave of gentrification that sweeps across Bangkok. A new documentary, The Last Breath Of Sam Yan, will be screened at Bangkok's independent cinemas to recount an all-out effort to save the century-old legacy of Chao Mae Thap Thim from redevelopment.
Revolution toolkit – a model for pro-democracy protesters to follow?
Life, Thana Boonlert, Published on 10/03/2021
» Anti-government protesters have adopted a wide range of tactics from flash mobs to banners in order to defy the powers that be. Last weekend, demonstrators gathered outside the Criminal Court surrounded by barbed wire on Ratchadaphisek Road to call for reforming the monarchy, the ouster of the military from politics, and a shift towards a welfare state. They first dumped garbage and then performed the symbolic act of setting it ablaze.
An egalitarian exhibition
Life, Apipar Norapoompipat, Published on 03/04/2019
» Placed methodically across the Bangkok Art and Culture Centre's (BACC) 8th floor gallery are 200 little figurines of a boy pointing towards the sky. Each decorated, painted and reimagined in different ways by international and Thai artists tells a story of their own. There's one wearing a camo military uniform donning multiple watches, one lying on the floor in a pool of blood, and one on a wooden pedestal -- dressed in a traditional Thai headdress with tiny little zebras lined up on the floor next to it.
A few steps forward, a few steps back
Life, Melalin Mahavongtrakul, Published on 28/01/2019
» From the portrayal of sexual diversity in movies to controversies in real life, here is what happened in the LGBTI community in the past month.
A nation of ever elusive justice
Life, Kanin Srimaneekulroj, Published on 26/02/2018
» Earlier this week, a video clip was circulated heavily on social media showing a middle-aged woman going to town on a white pickup truck with a hatchet. As it turns out, the truck was parked -- handbrakes and all -- in front of her home, blocking the one point of entry and exit she had, while the owner shopped at one of the many markets surrounding her home. Comments on social media initially criticised the woman for what seemed like extreme overreaction.