Sak Yant, Pratunam, Bangkok

Nikon FM2 | Konica Minolta Centuria Super 100 [expired 03/2008]

More of this film here.

A tattoo artist in Bangkok.

I found this gentleman tattooing a sak yant (สักยันต์) in a little shop in Soi 17 off the Phetchaburi Road near Pratunam. Not really sure how I ended up there but he kindly let me photograph him.

I was having a pretty good day with my Thai and felt confident enough to explain my business and these men were more than happy with my being there. We chatted away in Thai for around 10 minutes and I learnt some useful vocabulary about sak yants.

Sak means to ‘tap’ or ‘tattoo’ and refers to the action of the bamboo ‘needle’ and yant comes from the Hindi word yantra which is the word for the designs. They are not a Buddhist tradition but have been adopted in the Thai Buddhist tradition from an older Indian tattooing practice.

Unfortunately I had slow film loaded in both cameras I had with me. A roll of expired 100 iso Konica Minolta Centuria Super film in my Nikon FM2 and a roll of expired Kodak Portra 160NS in the Mamiya C220.

Tattoo Shop – Soi 17 Petchburi, Pratunam