Catalogue > At random

Inspired by the diary of a migrant worker, the documentary weaves several social and artistic threads together: the life a Thai migrant sex worker named Ploy who works in Singapore’s “jungle brothel”; the narratives of other migrant workers; an exploration of Singaporean forests and public parks; and the process through which the artist-filmmaker delves into and revisits Ploy’s experience. Ploy is a character as well as a collage of several visual forms, including painting, photography, photo-roman (photo-novel), 35mm slide projection, letters, and a herbarium. The film reconstructs the journey of Ploy through an array of visual media.

Prapat Jiwarangsan (b. 11 July 1979, Bangkok) is a visual artist and film director from Thailand. In his creative explorations, he usually incorporates a variety of media, especially photography, slides, and videos to investigate and represent the relationships between history, memory, and politics in Thailand—particularly in relation to the theme of migration. Having graduated from the Royal College of Art (RCA), Jiwarangsan has spent the last 6 years researching and making artwork that tackles the issues faced by migrant workers in Southeast Asia.