Art and Documentary Photography - Loading Angkhana_NeelaphaijitLR.jpg
1 of 20 © 2024 Luke Duggleby

Angkhana Neelapaijit is the Commissioner of the National Human Rights Commission of Thailand. She is also the wife of disappeared human rights lawyer Somchai Neelaphaijit. In March 2004, her husband was abducted in central Bangkok and never seen again whilst he was defending a group men from the South of Thailand who were arrested on terrorism charges and claimed they were tortured in police custody. The people involved were never charged with anything more than coercion and gang-robbery as the body of Somchai Neelaphaijit was never found.

Art and Documentary Photography - Loading Yupin_Saja.jpg
2 of 20 © 2024 Luke Duggleby

Yupin Saja is a member of the Save Lahu group and a family member of Chaiyaphum Pasae who was shot dead at an army checkpoint in the province of Chiang Mai. For the last few years she has been forced to live in a safe house with her family as her village is deemed to dangerous for them to return to.

Art and Documentary Photography - Loading Chutima_ChuenhuajaiLR.jpg
3 of 20 © 2024 Luke Duggleby

Chutima Chuenhuajai is a member of the Rak Ban Heang environmental group in Lampang Province, Thailand, who are fighting against the construction of a large open-pit coal mine.

Art and Documentary Photography - Loading Porntip_HongchaiLR.jpg
4 of 20 © 2024 Luke Duggleby

Pornthip Hongchai is a local leader of the Khon Rak Ban Kerd Environmental Group in Loei Province, Thailand. For the last decade this community group has been fighting against a gold mine located around their village, that they allege has contaminated their water supply and affected their crops.

Art and Documentary Photography - Loading Chamnan_KaramLR.jpg
5 of 20 © 2024 Luke Duggleby

Chamnan Karam is a member of the Southern Peasant Federation of Thailand (SPFT). Formed in 2008 but with its roots in a land reform movement that started in the early nineties in the province of Surat Thani, SPFT works on behalf of landless farmers to secure them land with which to farm. It’s very being rose from the inability of farmers to count on the Government to act independently or the companies in question to regulate themselves by following the laws.

Art and Documentary Photography - Loading Wilai_BuangoenLR.jpg
6 of 20 © 2024 Luke Duggleby

Wilai Buangoen is a member of the Rak Ban Heang environmental group in Lampang Province, Thailand, who are fighting against the construction of a large open-pit coal mine.

Art and Documentary Photography - Loading Nawa_JauaLR.jpg
7 of 20 © 2024 Luke Duggleby

Nawa Chaoue is the co-founder of Save Lahu group, was the caretaker of Chaiyaphum Pasae who was shot dead at an army checkpoint, and a member of the Lahu Youth Protectors Group and Network of Indigenous Peoples in Thailand (NIPT).     

Art and Documentary Photography - Loading Janya_KaewsukhonLR.jpg
8 of 20 © 2024 Luke Duggleby

Janya Kaewsukhon is a member of the Southern Peasant Federation of Thailand (SPFT). Formed in 2008 but with its roots in a land reform movement that started in the early nineties in the province of Surat Thani, SPFT works on behalf of landless farmers to secure them land with which to farm. It’s very being rose from the inability of farmers to count on the Government to act independently or the companies in question to regulate themselves by following the laws.

Art and Documentary Photography - Loading Wipapon_ChumbangmangLR.jpg
9 of 20 © 2024 Luke Duggleby

Vipapon Chumbangmang is a member of the Southern Peasant Federation of Thailand (SPFT). Formed in 2008 but with its roots in a land reform movement that started in the early nineties in the province of Surat Thani, SPFT works on behalf of landless farmers to secure them land with which to farm. It’s very being rose from the inability of farmers to count on the Government to act independently or the companies in question to regulate themselves by following the laws.

Art and Documentary Photography - Loading Jiraphon_RatchathaniLR.jpg
10 of 20 © 2024 Luke Duggleby

Jiraphan Ratchathani is a member of the Southern Peasant Federation of Thailand (SPFT). Formed in 2008 but with its roots in a land reform movement that started in the early nineties in the province of Surat Thani, SPFT works on behalf of landless farmers to secure them land with which to farm. It’s very being rose from the inability of farmers to count on the Government to act independently or the companies in question to regulate themselves by following the laws.

Art and Documentary Photography - Loading Mai_JantaLR.jpg
11 of 20 © 2024 Luke Duggleby

Mai Chanta is a member of the Empower Foundation. For 8 years she has fought for the rights of sex workers as part of the foundation and in early 2017 she testified on the treatment of sex workers to a Committee of the Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) in Geneva.

Art and Documentary Photography - Loading Manee_ChaisuwanLR.jpg
12 of 20 © 2024 Luke Duggleby

Manee Chaisuwan is a member of the Southern Peasant Federation of Thailand (SPFT). Formed in 2008 but with its roots in a land reform movement that started in the early nineties in the province of Surat Thani, SPFT works on behalf of landless farmers to secure them land with which to farm. It’s very being rose from the inability of farmers to count on the Government to act independently or the companies in question to regulate themselves by following the laws.

Art and Documentary Photography - Loading LuukplaaLR.jpg
13 of 20 © 2024 Luke Duggleby

Kunya Panmue is a member of the Empower Foundation. The name stands for "Education Means Protection of Women Engaged in Recreation" and also known as Centre for Sex Workers' Protection. It is a non-profit organization in Thailand that supports sex workers by offering free classes in language, health, law and pre-college education, as well as individual counselling. The organization also lobbies the government to extend regular labor protections to sex workers and to decriminalize sex work.

Art and Documentary Photography - Loading Oranuch_PholpinyoLR.jpg
14 of 20 © 2024 Luke Duggleby

Oranuch Pholpinyo of the Esan Land Reform Network. She has worked with many communities facing eviction in the Northeast of Thailand advising them on their rights and how to present their testimonies to officials.

Art and Documentary Photography - Loading Bonraeng_PromthongLR.jpg
15 of 20 © 2024 Luke Duggleby

Bonraeng Promthong is a member of the Southern Peasant Federation of Thailand (SPFT).Formed in 2008 but with its roots in a land reform movement that started in the early nineties in the province of Surat Thani, SPFT works on behalf of landless farmers to secure them land with which to farm. It’s very being rose from the inability of farmers to count on the Government to act independently or the companies in question to regulate themselves by following the laws.

Art and Documentary Photography - Loading Rungnapa_TorwatLR.jpg
16 of 20 © 2024 Luke Duggleby

Rungnapa Torwat, member of the Esan Land Reform Network and villager in the middle of an attempt to forcibly evict her community from their land in Chaiyaphum Province.

Art and Documentary Photography - Loading Samai_MangtaLR.jpg
17 of 20 © 2024 Luke Duggleby

Samai Mangta is a member of the Rak Nam Oum Group in Sakhon Nakhon Province who are objecting to several polluting industrial projects in the area of her community particularly a large sugar-cane processing plant.

Art and Documentary Photography - Loading Sopa_NgamsombatLR.jpg
18 of 20 © 2024 Luke Duggleby

Sopha Ngamsombat is a member of the Rak Ban Heang environmental group in Lampang Province, Thailand, who are fighting against the construction of a large open-pit coal mine.

Art and Documentary Photography - Loading Nang_Kham_SweLR.jpg
19 of 20 © 2024 Luke Duggleby

Nang Kham Swe is a member of the Empower Foundation. The name stands for "Education Means Protection of Women Engaged in Recreation" and also known as Centre for Sex Workers' Protection. It  is a non-profit organization in Thailand that supports sex workers by offering free classes in language, health, law and pre-college education, as well as individual counselling. The organization also lobbies the government to extend regular labor protections to sex workers and to decriminalize sex work.

Art and Documentary Photography - Loading Watcharee_PetpongLR.jpg
20 of 20 © 2024 Luke Duggleby

Watcharee Petpong is a member of the Southern Peasant Federation of Thailand (SPFT). Formed in 2008 but with its roots in a land reform movement that started in the early nineties in the province of Surat Thani, SPFT works on behalf of landless farmers to secure them land with which to farm. It’s very being rose from the inability of farmers to count on the Government to act independently or the companies in question to regulate themselves by following the laws.

Public Story
Sewing a Message
Copyright Luke Duggleby 2024
Date of Work Oct 2018 - Nov 2018
Updated Nov 2018
Topics Action, Activism, Arts, Civil Rights, Community, Confrontation, Documentary, Education, Environment, Family, Fine Art, Freedom, Gender, Human Rights, Illustrations, Mixed Medium, Photography, Portraiture, Protests, Womens Rights, Workers Rights

A community struggle against an outside entity is all consuming for those involved. They are the people of the land but are forced to use all their energy, time and money in repelling something that is not welcome by them for the gain of outsiders.


For such women human rights defenders living in remote communities there is very little space for expression. In fact, very little space exists for anything else outside the constant struggle and attempt to maintain some sort of normalcy in the family environment.


So, when you give the opportunity to such women and ask them to try to illustrate their life experiences the results can be remarkable. That’s exactly what happened when the human rights NGO Protection International with funding from the Canadian Embassy in Bangkok selected 20 Thai women human rights defenders from around Thailand and asked them to produce small quilts that illustrate their life, their stories and their struggles.


The idea was inspired by the colourful, three-dimensional quilts known as arpilleras produced in South America. Arpilleras became particularly significant when made by groups of women (also known as arpilleristas) in Chile during the military dictatorship (1973–90) of Augusto Pinochet where they depicted scenes of hardship and violence that the many women experienced during the dictatorship due to impoverished living conditions and government repression.


Not only does this activity produce a hand-made testimony of atrocities, and a shared space for expression, but it also strengthens bonds between themselves and others in a similar situation.

Luke Duggleby - Photographer

Website of photographer Luke Duggleby. Based in Bangkok, Thailand, Luke specialises in documentary and portrait photography focusing on Asia.
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