Zua, Cinema & Chalan

I had crossed paths with Andy Zua many times before, mostly at art and music events, but over the years I started seeing him more and more at art book fairs, where he had begun making and selling his own zines.

Andy is a rapper, musician, poet and artist, also known as Protozua from Rap Against Dictatorship. His zines are much more personal than his music, often built around small observations, fragments of writing and simple images. Through them, he explores parts of everyday life that don’t necessarily find their way into his other work.

In 2024, he joined Cinema and Chalan to form Moving Weird-Nest. The three had met at Bangkok Art Book Fair the year before and shared the same ambition: to make a space for their own unconventional work, while helping other artists bring their zines and prints to audiences outside Thailand. Later that year, Moving Weird-Nest travelled to the Tokyo Art Book Fair.

Cinema, whose real name is Theeprachan, told me her nickname came from Cinema Paradiso, her parents’ favourite film. Even her first name has a story: it means “by the moon”, after being born on a full moon night. She grew up in an artistic family and has been doodling for as long as she can remember, often using drawing as a way of processing whatever is happening around her.

One of her zines grew from doodles she made during meetings at the political NGO where she worked. Photography is another important part of her practice, particularly portraits and nudes, sometimes from behind the camera and sometimes in front of it. In one of her collaborations with Andy, her photographs sit alongside his writing, moving between intimacy, sexuality, freedom and the experience of living in Thailand.

Chalan was the one I hadn’t met yet. In fact, she arrived in such a hurry that day that I ended up making most of her portraits upstairs at Arai Arai café, trying to catch the last bit of sunlight.

She works full-time in project management, making art whenever her schedule allows. Her zines take the form of alternative comics, poetry and personal journalling, dealing with subjects such as queer identity, sexuality and trauma. Like Andy and Cinema, she uses the small and relatively free format of the zine to talk about things that might be difficult to place elsewhere.

Andy and Cinema chose Arai Arai as the location for the meeting, a place they often gather for workshops, talks and music. We also went around the corner to take a few pictures in the vibrant neighbourhood of Vongvien 22. By the time Chalan arrived, the light was already disappearing, so we just kept shooting until there wasn’t much left.