Lampang, Thailand – With each cockerel’s kick, wisps of white down feathers float into the air above the densely packed spectators. The men watching the fight jump out of their seats to shout odds, voices swelling like singing cicadas.
Among the audience at the cockfighting ring in Lampang province in northwestern Thailand, one face stands out.
With the ends of her long hair curled with a flat iron and carefully pencilled eyebrows, Phromanas Jumpa looks like an idol or influencer. She is neither. Better known as Mod, the 27-year-old is one of Thailand’s up-and-coming gamefowl breeders, rising to prominence as “The Angel of Gamefowl” after entering Super100, a TV talent show that allowed her to show off her expertise on birds.
Mod watches the fight from the front row, elbows propped on a plastic-coated soft barrier, cracked and flaking from a history of clenched hands. Her…
