Monday Oct 26 was just another dark and sweltering night on Sathon Road, central Bangkok.
Yet it provided a moment of inspiration for Nopparuj Sriratisirikul, a senior student at Chulalongkorn University who joined the protest in front of the German embassy. He stood among thousands of anti-government demonstrators and flashed the three-fingered salute in unison.
It came, he said, as protesters "crossed the Rubicon" to submit a petition to the German government, to pressure them and the establishment to reform. The expression dates back to the event in 49 BC when Julius Caesar's army crossed the Rubicon River on their way to Rome, thus precipitating the Roman Civil War.
"I have joined protests many times but I was moved by the powerful wave of protesters who raised their hands in solidarity. I wrote a poem to encourage them and call out to those in power," Mr Nopparuj told the Bangkok Post.
He composed it while sitting on the pavement in Sathon Road, and named it "III", which signifies the three-fingered salute.
Mr Nopparuj has composed poems before, adding most of his works are inspired by The Beat Generation, a literary movement led by a group of American authors that explored culture and politics in the post-wear era of the 1950s.
His poem "III" was selected to be displayed among political art projects at Silom Road on Oct 29.
The display was held under the theme of the "Art of Ratsadon" or "People Street Art". Protesters converged in small groups in the sealed-off street, some of them dancing and waving a banner that read "the stage of democracy".
On display was an eclectic range: fashion shows, performances, music, paintings and even drawings of road surfaces. Yet all were united in content and purpose ... attacking dictatorship and mocking the establishment.
Khana Ratsadon, the main protesters group which organised this street art event used art to channel their political message -- the lack of democracy, their anti-establishment ethos and uncertainty over the future created by rulers of the older generation.
Mr Nopparuj said the artworks expressed a sense of hopelessness felt by his peers. He will graduate next year and doesn't have much hope in the future.
"We cannot see our future. The government has failed us in so many ways, including the welfare system," he said. The Covid-19 pandemic has only served to add to his generation's feeling of insecurity.
"I cannot see myself [in the future] nor know what I am going to do in the next 10 years," he said, angrily, trying to explain his contemporaries' anger. "The way things stand at the moment is hopeless, so we must fight for our better future."
Not all protesters and artists who joined the street art event last Thursday were politically motivated, nor driven by angst.
Rapeeporn Tantragoon, a singer, said she agreed with only some of their demands. She said she only attended the art exhibition to call for the government to provide support for street artists, such as by arranging public venues.
"In Brooklyn [New York], I found an artist who worked as an illustrator by day and as a jazz singer by night. Those in developed countries can make a living out of art," she said.