A law enforcement agency may not be a very friendly workplace for LGBTI people. Indeed as an LGBTI person himself, Pol Lt Col Mongolrak Jutanont feels that he is an outcast within the force, despite being treated normally, although perhaps that’s because his father also works there.
“Although I do not have any negative impact from being an LGBTI, I find it difficult to adjust to the police community. I notice that some LGBTI policemen do not have much career growth. As a part of the community, I hope that all LGBTI policemen are treated equally,” he said.
On weekdays he works as a forensic artist at the Criminal Sketch Department of the Bangkok police force. Whenever he’s had free time, the artist has long enjoyed drawing doodle art, eventually developing a distinctive style of his own. That style was recently on display at Mongolrak’s debut solo exhibition “Alien Nation”, organised by Eat Me Restaurant and Single Use Production and on view at the restaurant.
“After working at the Criminal Sketch Department for a few years, I started drawing doodle art in my free time in order to escape from reality. For ‘Alien Nation’, I spent two years collecting these drawings. Alien in the title means us as outcast. ‘Alien Nation’ reflects my vision of a utopia where the LGBTI community can live happily. I do not mean that I dislike working on suspect sketches, but I have been doing it for 13 years. It’s an intense and serious job. But the exhibition allowed me to draw from my imagination without any boundaries, so it was fun.”
Mongolrak graduated from Silpakorn University’s multimedia design programme, but has no formal training in fine art and anatomy. The artist said he had a passion for art since he was young, but did not study fine art because people warned him that being an artist is financially unstable. When his father introduced him to the career of a forensic artist, he was interested as it did mean a secure job.
With his passion for drawing, it took him only a couple of months to train up for work at the Criminal Sketch Department, which comprises all 20 or so of the country’s forensic artists. The primary task of a forensic artist is to sketch suspects, missing persons and unidentified corpse when victims or witnesses report crimes to the police.
“When a victim or a witness reports a crime to the police and does not have a photo or video of a suspect, the police will send the victim/witness to a forensic artist. However, most people cannot recognise facial features or characters of the suspect because the incident happens very quickly. In that case, there is nothing that a forensic artist can do, other than let the people take time to recall their memory. We cannot guide them in their description of the suspect,” explained Mongolrak.
“There are catalogues of the look of each facial feature such as eyes, eyebrows, noses, mouths and chins. These catalogues also include features of different races. A forensic artist composes selected features together until a person is satisfied that the drawing bears a close resemblance to the suspect.”
The Criminal Sketch Department also collaborates with the Mirror Foundation to update images of missing persons, so people can recognise missing children who have since grown up. However, Mongolrak said that creating such images requires advanced drawing skill, so only forensic artists who graduated from art school can do it.
To help people understand that it is important to remember suspects at an incident, the Criminal Sketch Department visits schools and organisations to educate them, emphasising that they should not panic when they experience an unexpected incident.
“The participants are told that they should stay calm and try to recognise important features such as facial features, marks, scars or tattoos. There have been many times when sketches were released yet the suspect could not be found, as sometimes the victim/witness could not recall enough details and gave inaccurate descriptions,” said Mongolrak.
'Alien Nation' reflects the artist's vision of a utopia where LGBTI community can live happily.
While spending his free time drawing and doodling, Mongolrak did not expect it to lead to a career in art. However, his friends liked his drawings and requested some for themselves. He also created commissioned work for murals in coffee shops, as well as images for greeting cards and postcards and even for the Department of Commerce’s official 2023 calendar.
For “Alien Nation”, Mongolrak created a collection of black-and-white, cartoonish and even childlike paintings that carry a serious message. Some paintings are cheeky and sexual; they aim to amuse rather than shock. The artist explained that he uses sexual drawings because sex and sexuality are still taboo subjects in Thailand.
“Sex and sexuality are topics that should be discussed between parents and children and friends. I believe discussing these topics more can help people to discover their sexual preferences. If people can talk more openly about sex, there will be more understanding. I think this can help reduce sexual crimes. Other topics are sex toys and same-sex marriage. People should have the freedom to buy sex toys if they want. Also, Thailand should be more open to same-sex marriage,” said the artist.
Apart from bringing taboo topics into light, the exhibition also will donate part of the proceeds to SWING (Service Workers In Group).
“I was criticised by people around me for donating money to SWING because they think supporting sex workers is immoral. I know that SWING has many activities to support sex workers. The proceeds from ‘Alien Nation’ will go to the education fund for sex workers. SWING provides many workshops to enhance skills for sex workers, so they can use those skills to pursue other careers. This will help them to have more choices in life,” he explained.
Some paintings which aim to amuse are cheeky and sexual.
Mongolrak hopes that the exhibition will encourage people to speak more openly about sex and sexuality.
“I believe art can raise awareness. My paintings speak loudly about sex and sexuality, and art collectors understand them. Collectors who purchased my paintings told me that they knew exactly where they wanted my painting to be placed. This means they understand the messages that the paintings convey,” said Mongolrak.
“Alien Nation” is on view at Eat Me Restaurant, Soi Phi Phat 2 off Convent Road, until May 7. Admission is free. For more information, visit facebook.com/eatmerestaurant.
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