Advertisement
Thailand
AsiaSoutheast Asia

Thai artist pelted with faeces in show of protest against army-linked government

  • The performance comes after Pheu Thai formed a coalition government with army-backed parties
  • Artist Duangrit Bunnag promised that he would allow people to throw faeces at him in the event of such a coalition government being formed

Reading Time:2 minutes
Why you can trust SCMP
Thai architect Duangrit Bunnag has bags of cow faeces thrown at him in response to Pheu Thai Party’s inclusion of army-linked parties in the government coalition. Photo: AFP
Agence France-Presse

A Thai architect has been pelted with cow faeces in an unusual performance art piece inspired by an opposition party’s controversial decision to form a coalition government with army-backed parties.

Advertisement
Thailand has endured months of political deadlock following May’s elections, when the progressive Move Forward Party (MFP) triumphed only to be blocked from power by the kingdom’s conservative establishment.
Former MFP partners Pheu Thai stepped forward to lead, forging an 11-party coalition with army-backed parties – including the Palang Pracharat (PPRP) party – despite a campaign pledge to never do so.
Duangrit Bunnag has a bucket of cow dung thrown at him in response to Pheu Thai’’s inclusion of pro-establishment parties and the exclusion of the progressive Move Forward party. Photo by Lillian Suwanrumpha/AFP
Duangrit Bunnag has a bucket of cow dung thrown at him in response to Pheu Thai’’s inclusion of pro-establishment parties and the exclusion of the progressive Move Forward party. Photo by Lillian Suwanrumpha/AFP

Ahead of the shock deal’s announcement, well-known architect and artist Duangrit Bunnag promised that “if Pheu Thai Party joins hands with PPRP, I will allow you all to throw faeces at me”.

Clad in a hazmat suit and full-face mask, he made good on that promise on Saturday, kneeling on white tarpaulin in Bangkok’s Lak Si district as people threw cow faeces at him.

“I want to communicate through art,” said one anonymous poo-thrower, dressed in overalls and wearing an eerily realistic mask of PPRP leader Prawit Wongsuwon, before stepping up to deliver dung to Duangrit.

Thailand’s Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin arrives at Pheu Thai Party headquarters in Bangkok, Thailand, on August 24, 2023. Photo: AP
Thailand’s Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin arrives at Pheu Thai Party headquarters in Bangkok, Thailand, on August 24, 2023. Photo: AP

The general was among the architects of 2014’s coup, which removed Pheu Thai from power and installed a junta-backed administration that governed for the next nine years.

Advertisement
Advertisement