REMINDERS OF A LOVE MORE THAN SKIN DEEP
Looking for a permanent way to pay tribute, many are turning to tattoos for the first time
In the past 10 days, many of those who stepped into Bongkod Phimlakha’s Thong Lor studio did so for the first and last time. They were there to get a tattoo in tribute to the late King Bhumibol, and they told the owner of Tattoo OD Studio in Sukhumvit Soi 53 it would be the only time they would go under the needle.
Mr Bongkod said they felt the urge to have a permanent reminder, and most took the form of the Thai numeral nine, the more elaborate “I was born under the reign of King Rama IX” in English or Thai, or a small map of the country.
Constantly busy in the 10 days since the King’s death, Mr Bongkod noticed most were in their thirties — older than his usual customers — who had never had a tattoo before despite being common among men and women as acts of Buddhist devotion, for protection and good luck.
Mr Bongkod turned down requests to draw His Majesty’s face or royal cypher, even before guidelines were issued banning the practice.
“We would not do that anyway, with or without the guidelines,” he said. “Even though the intention is good, we refuse to do it because we think it’s not appropriate.”
In Pattaya, Nobparat Na-plod, 34, and five other tattoo artists drew 268 free tattoos in three days last weekend, saying it was a way to make merit for the King as he was unable to travel to Bangkok.
The idea of offering free tattoos came from Mr Nobparat’s grief as he wanted to have a way of showing his respect and mourning for the King.
Like millions of others, he grew up seeing the King on television and in photographs but had never so much as caught a glimpse of him.
“It’s strange that I feel bound to a man I never knew or met in person. But I feel like I knew him all the time.”
Pattara Khemwadee, 28, said getting a tattoo also seemed to be the right way of paying tribute, despite never having had one in his life. He decided to get the Thai numeral nine on his chest.
“If you want to have something on your body, it must be very meaningful. The King means a lot to me,” he said.
Kraipich Jarach opted for “I was born during the reign of King Rama 9” on her neck in Thai script.
“I might lose photos, but tattoos will stay with me even when I die,” the 32-year-old said.
Doubling up on the tributes, Ms Kraipich also decided to have “King 9” — the first word in English and the numeral in Thai — tattooed on her forearm, a motif that has become increasingly popular.
Photos of people showing off new artwork, from large portraits of the king to elaborate maps of Thailand with his name across them, are doing the rounds of social media.
However, there has also been a downside to the permanent tributes, with a number of tattoos with incorrect spellings highlighted on Facebook.
Mr Bongkod said while he was not responsible for any of the misspellings, it served as a warning for customers.
“We draw the image first for the customers to approve,” he said. “I saw the social media news about the misspellings and I thought those tattoo artists were young and amateurish. You can tell from the drawing lines of their tattoos.”