04 October 2008

Capturing the Jia Chai Festival

The Nine Emperor Gods Festival is a nine-day Taoist celebration beginning on the eve of the 9th lunar month of the Chinese calendar. In Thailand, this festival is called Tesagan Jia Chai aka Vegetarian Festival and is celebrated throughout the entire country, but the festivities are at their height in Phuket, where 35 % of the population is Thai Chinese.

Thailand, Phuket, Vegetarian Festival, Tesagan Jia Chai, Nine Emperor Gods Festival, Taoist celebration, Thai Chinese man, mah song, street portrait, self-mutilation, piercing, impaling, ritualised mutilation

Thailand, Phuket, Vegetarian Festival, Tesagan Jia Chai, Nine Emperor Gods Festival, Taoist celebration, Thai Chinese man, mah song, street portrait, self-mutilation, piercing, impaling, ritualised mutilation

Thailand, Phuket, Vegetarian Festival, Tesagan Jia Chai, Nine Emperor Gods Festival, Taoist celebration, Thai Chinese man, mah song, street portrait, self-mutilation, piercing, impaling, ritualised mutilation

Thailand, Phuket, Vegetarian Festival, Tesagan Jia Chai, Nine Emperor Gods Festival, Taoist celebration, Thai Chinese man, mah song, street portrait, self-mutilation, piercing, impaling, ritualised mutilation

Thailand, Phuket, Vegetarian Festival, Tesagan Jia Chai, Nine Emperor Gods Festival, Taoist celebration, Thai Chinese man, mah song, street portrait, self-mutilation, piercing, impaling, ritualised mutilation

Thailand, Phuket, Vegetarian Festival, Tesagan Jia Chai, Nine Emperor Gods Festival, Taoist celebration, Thai Chinese man, mah song, street portrait, self-mutilation, piercing, impaling, ritualised mutilation

Thailand, Phuket, Vegetarian Festival, Tesagan Jia Chai, Nine Emperor Gods Festival, Taoist celebration, Thai Chinese man, mah song, street portrait, self-mutilation, piercing, impaling, ritualised mutilation

Thailand, Phuket, Vegetarian Festival, Tesagan Jia Chai, Nine Emperor Gods Festival, Taoist celebration, Thai Chinese man, mah song, street portrait, self-mutilation, piercing, impaling, ritualised mutilation

Thailand, Phuket, Vegetarian Festival, Tesagan Jia Chai, Nine Emperor Gods Festival, Taoist celebration, Thai Chinese man, mah song, street portrait, self-mutilation, piercing, impaling, ritualised mutilation

Thailand, Phuket, Vegetarian Festival, Tesagan Jia Chai, Nine Emperor Gods Festival, Taoist celebration, policeman, street portrait, headshot


"My belief is that art should not be comforting;
for comfort, we have mass entertainment and one another.
Art should provoke, disturb, arouse our emotions,
expand our sympathies in directions
we may not anticipate and may not even wish..."
(Joyce Carol Oates)


High-res portrait photographs with full exif data, geotags and technical details in Matt Hahnewald's