MAKE THINGS WITH YOUR HANDS

Recently I had a little exhibition in Chiang Rai Thailand at Prataap Jai which is an art gallery, tea house, cultural, art and movement educational centre . It’s such a special space and I was super happy to have my images displayed there. The vision for their venue is totally beautiful and aligns with how I feel about Chiang Rai. Thats my friend Fai on the flier. She looks so pretty!!

“We aim to provide a clear alternative environment to the typical “bar scene” which is often the place where foreigners interact with Thais. The goal of our work is to enable cross-cultural exchange among foreigners and Thais; to provide a place where foreigners and locals can meet and learn from one another in positive, productive and creative ways. ” Prataap Jai Website.

I think Prataap Jai achieved their goals on this particular night, as ethnicity wise (off the top of my head) there were Lahu, Mien , Akha , Thai, Brazilian, German, American, Chinese, British, New Zealand, Irish and Australians and a few more ethnicities there on the night.

Some of my favorite dudes from the Chiang Rai Photo Club.

My friend Chalit Chawalitangkun ( a photographer  from Chiang Rai/ and uber cool character ) helped us open the night by translating into Thai this small speech to explain how I felt about the images.

"TRIBE AND PLACE - These images are about stories. Long, intricate stories reaching back through families 
and time. We are priviledged to learn from the different ethnicities living in Chiang Rai Province and 
form new understandings of life, our planet and eachother. 
I feel like the people are the riches of this country and well worth celebrating."
 

Nitaya Buayoi who is a local Mien leader ( and a pretty darn intelligent/gorgeous lady ) opened the exhibition with the approval of the Village Headman, who is a supporter of Prataap Jai and even bought along an eight piece traditional Thai musical group for the evening (which was awesome).

P’Nitaya and her son.

The local band.

I haven’t met many people in my wanderings, who when they understand the nature of the cultures in Northern Thailand, dont have a moment where they seem to broaden in their eyes and are taken in by the story of the unique migratory and cultural history in the region. Even if they haven’t been there, it seems to fascinate people because it touches on the part of all of us that wonders how we “belong”.

Below is an image which may shed some light on the fascinating people groups who live in the area and where they have come from. The top province is Chiang Rai and the capital is where I spent last year taking images and learning about different cultures.

One of my favorite things about Thailand is this kind of “Do It Yourself” ethic that threads through almost all areas of life.

I love daydreaming ….looking up …and then realizing that the lamp shades hanging in the trees around me are made of chicken-pen baskets or being surprised by the creative uses of bamboo, from eating it to building houses or musical instruments with it. Within minority cultures in the North there is amazing resourcefulness.

The images I chose for my exhibition were chosen for their educational content and personal meaning. I wanted to give a tiny glimpse of these complex and fascinating people group’s lives. I have included a few of the images from the Prataap Jai exhibition, to illustrate this.

These boys are shooting small stones from their bamboo toy guns. These kids are Lahu and this day was a special festival where a heap of different Lahu Sub Groups met together to share food and dancing and hang out.

This is the dowry of a Hmong woman. I was stayed with a Hmong family  in Nan Province (See map ) and this woman shared some of her story with me and also showed me all of her traditional clothes and dowry.

Nearby in another Hmong village I watched an old woman sew this fabric with these intricate and ancient designs in the doorway of her house. Two boys shot each other with toy guns and played around her. She patiently sewed these tiny patterns. Each people group has unique and specific craft traditions.

The Lahu craft/clothing traditions are very different from the Hmong. The cloth is folded and sewn flat to create the colored shapes. Metal/silver flat buttons are sewn in shapes onto the black fabric. These girls are dancing in a circle.

I love this picture because I was kind of blown away by the older Akha women on this day. They have two types of swing for New Years celebrations. There is this ferris wheel one and a kind of big bungy cord style swing that goes pretty high. All the Grandmas were getting on and having a go. It was totally impressive. The shape in the foreground made of bamboo is a traditional Akha emblem that was/is placed at the gate of villages.

There was images of Lahu, Hmong, Karen and Akha people in the exhibition. I used each of their craft traditions to hang these little explanations from the bottom in Thai and English. The Karen weaving has quite often got raw ends hanging off it so I used this raw weaving thread to hang the Karen images. That little love heart is the sign that some one bought this one. Texta love hearts are so the new black :)

THANKYOU TO Khwan Atthawut (รับงานถ่ายรูปทั่วโลก) for his photos of the night and for allowing me to use them in this blog.

Advertisement