TEXT & PHOTO: AKKARA NAKTAMNA
(For Thai, press here)
The Democracy Monument (Thai: อนุสาวรีย์ประชาธิปไตย) is a representative that proudly presents Thailand is a democratic country like other developed countries around the globe. But, in fact, it has been interrupted by some powers intermittently and makes it not be completely democracy — 13 coups 20 constitutions since Siamese revolution in 1932 can be outstanding proofs and convey significant messages which probably are better than a concrete monument using for traffic circle or decorating flower pots. This photo series was created by photographing the Democracy Monument image in the television that had glitches displaying distorted waves and missing signals. Thai Democracy is similar to that; so fragile like a dream, easy to interfere and collapse. Eventually people will be pushed to raise up and smash on the back of the television to get a good picture back again.
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Akkara Naktamna was born in Bangkok in 1979. Started shooting as a self-taught photographer around 2008 influenced by a photo book of Elliott Erwitt and a comedy movie called Pecker. In 2012, he co-founded Street Photo Thailand. Akkara was selected in some finalists of street photography competitions, and photo festivals such as Miami Street Photography Festival 2013, Singapore Photo Festival 2016, Photo Bangkok Festival 2015-2018. Signs — his zine was made in 2016 along with his solo exhibition; it was archived by Franklin Furnace Archive and MoMA Library as part of The Anamorphosis Prize. Akkara created an e-magazine called CTypeMag for promoting interesting photo series around the globe and followed with the 99 Thai New Photographers project. In 2020, Akkara was nominated for the World Press Photo Joop Swart Masterclass by Manit Sriwanichpoom.
http://akkaranaktamna.com/series/uncertainties-of-their-hopes