After 7 years of violence, what have these photographs from the deep south told or given meanings for us to see and interpret? It seems that pictures of key events in other places on Earth have given new meanings to us. Deep South Photographers have also created a large number of sophisticated photographs. Let's look at the picture of the sign near the entrance to the Tanah Putih village in Bannang Sata District, Yala Province, which was taken in 2005. This sign would have no meaning if there were no letters in red being sprayed over it. The letters were in the Melayu language which read "Patani Merdeka" or "Liberation of Patani". The picture becomes more meaningful when the Malay man in the sarong who was riding his motorcycle with a little boy in the pillion seat look at it. He might have stopped the motorcycle to look at the sign with interest, but the puzzle here is that the picture did not allow us to see his eyes, which could be showing bepuzzlement, fear, or satisfaction.

What is more interesting is that the little boy on the motorcycle had a rather uncomfortable look in his eyes and in the way he acted. He might not know the meaning of what was happening around him. He might not know why the grown-ups had to stop the motorcycle. He might be wondering what the photographer was doing in front of him, or he might not be happy that a stranger was looking into his private space. If we looked at this man as the center of the picture, we would see that he was being a witness and an observer to the fight between the two identities in the conflict in the deep south: the identity of the Thai state vs. that of the insurgents. By whatever name we call them, this struggle is not yet over and will continue as long as the doubts and the puzzle in this photograph are still unsolved...