Book presentation (PL)
I Love You Dad, Karol Grygoruk
17.06 (Sunday), 16.00
Festival Centre (Tytano)
Meeting participants: Karol Grygoruk, Paweł Starzec
According to Article 112 of the Penal Code of Thailand, anyone who defames, offends, or threatens the king, queen, heir to the throne, or regentcan be punished by up to fifteen years in prison. The Thai lèse-majesté law, protecting the rulers from any form of loosely defined threat to their majesty, is still one of the harshest in the world.
The documentary project I Love You Dad, mainly focused around the figure of BhumibolaAdulyadej—the King of Thailand and one of the longest reigning monarchs in the world—is a tale of a complicated relationship between power and society in a tourist paradise ruled with the strong arm of the military regime.
Documenting the deep stratification of Thai society: slum dwellers destitute of any access to education, seemingly socially accepted ladyboys and prostitutes, military authorities or teenagers fascinated with Western culture, we can look at the disturbing coexistence of obedience and resistance. Regardless of social position and cultural backdrop, everyone shares unshakable and obligatory love for the king.
Karol Grygoruk(1985) is a photographer and visual anthropologist. A graduate of the Institute of Applied Social Sciences of the University of Warsaw and the Institute of Creative Photography in Opava. For many years he has worked with many non-governmental organisations, including the Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights and Greenpeace. Lecturer at the Academy of Photography in Warsaw. Interested in the theories of visual culture and contemporary American photography. His works have been presented at individual and collective exhibitions at home and abroad, including at the Museum of Modern Art in Warsaw. Represented by the SHOOTME agency and associated with the Leica 6×7 gallery. He lives and works between Warsaw and Berlin.
