Summary

The bas-relief represents Sarit Thanarat, former Thai prime minister who ruled Thailand in the early 1960s. This wall is also located next to a statue of Sarit, in the city of Khon Kaen, where Apichatpong Weerasethakul grew up. The artist represented Sarit Thanarat in various artworks, calling into question the value of his sculpture as an object of worship and as a glorification of the role of the army in Thai politics. For Apichatpong Weerasethakul, Sarit was a product of American involvement during the Cold War and an archetype of generals of the army who subsequently took power through coups d’état, including the most recent in 2014.