BANGKOK — The hands raising Bangkok’s luxurious spires live in a parallel world of tin-roof shanties, a glimpse of which will be available at an exhibition opening next week.
“Migration in Thailand reaffirms that nation-state is something imaginary and awkward,” photojournalist Visarut Sankhum wrote in an email. “Economic migrants reflect how capitalism works: cheapest cost to gain maximum profit. This causes violations of human rights.”
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Currently studying a master’s degree in Chiang Mai, Visarut explored three different construction camps in the capital, where most workers were Cambodian. He illustrated the contrasts between their poor living conditions and the luxury skyscrapers they build to reflect social inequity in his lens.
“I always believe that humans are equal and migrants deserve to live and work legally and be treated equally,” he wrote. “Although there’s only one campsite that was in bad condition, it’s worth telling the story to the public to confirm that there are humans who have to live in such conditions to build the houses, residences and [city] for us to live in.”
The opening reception starts at 7pm on March 3, and the exhibition runs for six weeks at the Foreign Correspondents’ Club of Thailand on the top floor of the Maneeya building, which is linked by skywalk through BTS Chit Lom’s exit No. 2.
All photos courtesy Visarut Sankhu
