A few years ago while living in Thailand, my girlfriend, now wife, surprised me on my birthday by planning a trip to a mysterious place. Upon arriving in Bangsaen, we approached my first visit to a “Hell Temple.”
We were greeted by เปรต “Pretḁ” otherwise known as the “Hungry Ghosts”, two incredibly tall and thing zombie-like creatures that tower over the entire land. Like all the representations of demons and ghosts here, their form and afterlife are punishments correlated with their life on earth. In this case, their particular curse was due to the horrible treatment and abuse of their parents they partook in during their human life.
As obviously grotesque and macabre as that sounds, both of us couldn’t help but find humor in how some of these spirits were represented and how oddly specific some of the punishments were.
Soon after this trip we bought motorcycles and ventured off to visit more of the hundreds of temples in Thailand like this one. Thus, this zine was created as a small sample of our modest journeys to Heaven & Hell alike.
An exhibition was held in Kagawa, Japan in August, 2022.
2022 – Self Published – B5 Color Laser – 38 Pages Saddle Stitched
Available at YANGGAO, Nagano Japan ¥1,500