For a country which hosts over two million migrant workers from Myanmar and at least half a million from Cambodia, they remain mostly invisible in Thailand. This is partly due to physical similarities, but also due to the fact that they are rarely acknowledged publicly as an indispensable part of the Thai economy, performing hard but low-paying work in the seafood, construction, and service industries, among others.
A small but significant step towards rectifying that will take place this Saturday, when a large mural painting belatedly acknowledging the contributions of migrant workers will be inaugurated in one of Bangkok’s most affluent neighbourhoods, in an alley between Thonglor Soi 9 and Soi 11.
The mural itself is far from small, measuring 10 metres high and 12 metres wide.
The artist team was led by Paris-based Burmese artist Chuu Wai, who has experience painting murals across Europe—including Zurich, Toulouse, and Marseille, and also India. Two Myanmar artists based in Bangkok also contributed: Sai Chit Min and Khant Win (YG).
While the project was initiated by SEA Junction—a Bangkok-based non-profit organisation that aims to promote a better understanding of Southeast Asia—in partnership with the International Labour Organization’s Ship to Shore Rights programme, which is funded by the European Union, and other partners including Norwegian People’s Aid (NPA), it was Chuu Wai who scouted for the location. Her search eventually led her to the wall of Thonglor House Music Bar and Restaurant, owned by the generous Khun Jiab who will look after the mural for the next two years.
Earlier, at several other locations, property owners asked how much she would pay to use the space.
“So I said, ‘No, no. It’s public art,’” she told Khaosod English on Tuesday evening, as the mural was 99 per cent completed. “I almost gave up.”
While migrants from Myanmar are scattered across many countries in the region, including Singapore, South Korea, and Japan, the artist said Bangkok is the preferred location. After all, Thailand hosts the largest number of migrant workers from the repressive country outside Myanmar, with with estimates, including both registered and undocumented workers, likely approaching three million.
“If I have to talk about migrant workers from Myanmar, I have to choose Thailand. Thailand is the most interesting,” she continued in English, with a hint of a French accent after the years she spent there. “There are a lot [of migrant workers] and a lot is going on. I want to bring Thai people and migrant workers closer together. Many people will be walking past and seeing this mural.”
The mural depicts 13 migrant workers — 12 from Myanmar and one from Cambodia, two babies, and a dog. All are based on real migrant workers whom the artists spoke to, discussing how they would like themselves to be represented in the mural.
“They face a lot of difficulties. They want people to put themselves in their shoes. They are not coming here [to Thailand] to do bad things. They don’t want [Thais] to look at them like shit,” Chuu Wai explained, adding that she nevertheless told them the mural painting should not be depressing or sad, but should instead radiate positive energy.
With that goal in mind, Chuu Wai, who returns to Paris in a week, added with pride that the mural is located in the middle of an affluent area in Bangkok. To paint a mural celebrating the pride and aspirations of migrant workers here was, in her words, “so cool!”
One of the project’s main artists, Sai Chit Min, who works under the name Syncfio, is based in Bangkok. Sai, 28, fled the political turmoil in Myanmar three years ago. He was formerly an art teacher at an international school in Yangon but now tries to make ends meet by selling watercolour paintings here in Bangkok and teaching people, mostly expats, how to paint.
The biggest challenge in this project was the height of the mural, he told Khaosod English, adding that he is not entirely comfortable painting 10 metres above the ground. “The higher you get, the shakier it becomes.”
Sai said many people from Myanmar try their best to make a new home in Thailand and, despite the harsh working conditions, “this is still better than Myanmar.”
He was modest when asked about his expectations for his mural painting work. “I don’t hope for that much, but I hope they will see the lives [of migrant workers] and the work that no one else wanted to do. I wish we could do more projects like this to raise awareness. I am very happy that this mural project happened. I got a chance to be part of it and meet a lot of amazing people,” Sai concluded as we sat inside Thonglor House for the interview.
Because it is a work of public art, many people passed by during the process, which took over 10 days to complete. Alongside the three core artists, around 40 volunteers took turns painting. Sai said some passers-by stopped and asked him about the meaning of the painting.
“I said ‘Together We Build’,” he replied, referring to the name of both the mural and the project. You can contact Sai on Instagram at @some.paints
By around 20:00 on Tuesday, the rain had stopped. SEA Junction’s founder and executive director, Rosalia Scortino, led this writer outside to elaborate on the painting. The Italian-born Scortino pointed to a female migrant worker in purple holding a shrimp, explaining that her work involves shelling shrimps in Samut Sakhon province, just south of Bangkok. Scortino added that the woman’s work has become doubly hard because the factory reduced its workforce, requiring one worker to do the volume of work that used to be handled by two.
Then there is a male Cambodian construction worker on the upper right of the mural.
Scortino said the man is currently unemployed due to the Thai-Cambodian border conflict but has two children who are married to Thais. She then spoke about the red tape related to the work visa application process, and how it was depicted on the left side of the painting by a man carrying a tall bundle of papers over his head.
There was also a tuk-tuk with a dog in the back seat. The dog is real as well, a rescued mixed-breed adopted by Scortino five years ago. It accompanied her to inspect the daily progress of the project, and it was Sai who decided to feature the dog in the mural.
The ‘Together We Build’ mural painting by Chuu Wai & Co will be inaugurated on Saturday, 23 May 2026, from 17:00 to 20:00 at Thonglor House, with complimentary canapés provided by the restaurant. All are invited.