A Thai pop star uses her music to critique her homeland, in The Economist

Known for her “dystopian pop”, Pyra has been driven out by Thailand’s conservatism The video is captioned “UGLY TRUTH ABOUT THAILAND”. Peeralada Sukawat—better known by her stage name, Pyra—looks into the camera and rolls her eyes. “Bangkok babies in Mercedes,” she raps over looping drums and a synth beat. “Rich gets richer, poor gets poorer,/Inequality’s […]

Continue Reading

Circus shows temple tourists another side of Cambodia in The Nikkei Asian Review

Circus shows temple tourists another side of Cambodia – Creative training offers an alternative lifestyle for young performers SIEM REAP, Cambodia — It is a stiflingly hot Friday evening in Siem Reap, western Cambodia. The big top is packed, and there is an air of excitement as 300 or so spectators squeeze onto narrow wooden […]

Continue Reading

Indian theater activists see rise in political risks – The Nikkei Asian Review

My latest story with Laure Siegel on government censorship and the arts in India, focusing on theater on Mumbai and Delhi. MUMBAI/NEW DELHI — “First they come for the movies. Then for the books. Theater will be the last to be hit, but the clamp-down is coming,” said Anish Victor, a founder of Rafiki, a […]

Continue Reading

Sacred Skin makes its international exhibition debut in Switzerland

Aroon Thaewchatturat‘s photographs of Thailand’s sak yant wearers, featured in our highly acclaimed book Sacred Skin, published by Visionary World in 2010, are going international. The Gewerbe Museum in Winterthur, Switzerland opens its first TATTOO exhibition today and large prints of Aroon’s images, blessed by eminent sak yant master Achan Neng Onnut, are part of […]

Continue Reading