Headache Stencil, Thailand’s Banksy

One of the most well known political street artists in Thailand is Headache Stencil. Like Banksy, he likes to remain anonymous as much as he can. He told Khaosod, “I started calling myself Headache Stencil because I knew what I did is going to cause people headaches. I’ve been a troublemaker since I was a kid.” His street art has been appearing on walls since the military coup in 2014, but he became famous in 2018 with his political commentary about the luxury watches belonging to the deputy prime minister and the poaching of a black panther by one of Thailand’s richest men. The artwork for the former case was the face of Prawit inside an alarm clock and the latter case showed a black panther crying tears of blood.

Headache Stencil’s street art can be found all over the city, but there is a nice collection in the On Nut area. Though be aware that some come and go quite quickly due to the political content of the artwork. There are a few at the top of Soi Sukhumvit 58, but some have already been whitewashed out. His latest one can be found down Soi Sukhumvit 56 on the boundary walls of an empty lot (13°41’58.1″N 100°35’55.7″E). The new mural is in support of same sex marriage in Thailand. The photos below are all from this same location.

The following street can be found at the top of Soi Sukmvit 58.

At the Jam Factory in Bangkok (see Google Map), there’s an interesting exhibition by 30 political artists. It’s curated by Headache Stencil.  The exhibition runs until 22nd November 2021.

Please let me know in the comments below if you have had any recent sightings of his art work. Let me know the date and exact location. Thanks.

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