In the wake of the Thai government’s disastrous decision to obey Red China’s demand for censorship of a Bangkok art exhibition, the Burmese couple who created the show have fled to the United Kingdom. They are seeking asylum (The Hans India, August 17, 2025).
The artworks displayed in Constellation of Complicity: Visualizing the Global Machine of Authoritarian Solidarity ended up conveying the impact of authoritarianism by falling victim to censorship as well as through the works themselves: “several artists’ names in the exhibition were covered up with black paint in the descriptions of artworks,” and descriptions of where the artists hail from were “partially covered with black paint to hide references to Hong Kong, Tibet, and Xinjiang.” Some works were removed from the show.
The censorship had been proposed by the Bangkok Art and Culture Centre as an alternative to shutting down the exhibition altogether, the original demand of Chinese Communist Party officials. The gallery would not have been confronted by such alternatives if Thai officials had simply told the CCP officials to get lost.
Sai and his wife fled to the UK as they were worried about being deported back to Myanmar, where Sai believes he will be persecuted for his activism against the junta. Two days after the exhibition began, the couple, while heading to their home in Bangkok, realised that Thai police were looking for them.
The couple received texts from gallery staff informing them about the police’s visit to the exhibition and that officers had asked for the contact numbers of the couple. At the moment, Sai said that “we realised we had to leave the country”.
The couple booked tickets for the earliest flight to the UK. Thailand’s national police spokesman Achayon Kraithong stated that he had not received any information that police personnel were looking for Sai.
It seems that the spokesman for the Thai police is the type of “spokesman” who is kept in the dark about matters of urgent interest to the public or who at least agrees to pretend to know nothing of such matters.
In 2021, Sai and his wife had fled Myanmar after a military coup there. Sai’s former view: “Thailand plays a critical role to promote peace and stability for Myanmar…. It’s a secure place.”
This opinion has changed. “Because of our activism, the targeting by authoritarian regimes against us has multiplied…. My wife and I have no choice but to seek asylum in the UK.”
