A white wall as a backdrop to history
Even in a city as modern as Bangkok, old ways continue to be seen everywhere. There might be modern malls, condominiums and cars, but part of the charm of Bangkok continues to be the traditional ways of moving and selling stuff by cart or bike or ancient motorcycle.
There is a large Chinese temple on the opposite side of the lane where my apartment building is located. It has a white wall against the lane. Every so often, for reasons which are unclear, a cart or hawker vehicle is left unattended for awhile. The vehicle against the wall evokes, at least for me, a sense of what Bangkok must have been like many years ago. Looking at these little transport vehicles sends my mind back in time to what the picture might have looked like, if taken long ago.
I have written about this before in April 2012 and yet again in July 2012. And while it was not using the wall as a backdrop, back in June 2015 I wrote about a bicycle cart I saw at a construction site of a very modern mall near the hospital.
These old moving machines bring us back in time. And yet, they are still heavily used today by hawkers everywhere in Bangkok. Their images get frozen in sepia tones or in black and white. The wall across my apartment becomes a backdrop for a history that continues for devices and vehicles that seem to go on and on.
There must be a Thai version of Banksy?
An idea of mine once was to allow ‘projected’ images on to public walls vs graffiti. Allow people to project images drawn on a electronic screens that is immediately projected, until the next ‘artist’ comes along and changes it again
Unlimited use of space so to speak
Then a hawker vehicle or whatever would then give it a 3rd dimension….except of course get in the way
Now back to my usual delusional state!
Btw sepia tones have always been a fav of mine, going back to my b and w photograph developing.
Cool then and still cool
There’s an alley in old Montreal where images are projected on the walls and ground to create amazing effects. For example, the ground can be turned into water that appears so real that one is afraid to walk on it. There are fish swimming on the street. So maybe your idea has legs. Toronto could use something like that.
Wow!
What is the name of the street in case I am in Montreal? My son is there this weekend for a music festival
Someday I will go to the jazz festival
I digress
I don’t remember the name of the street, but it’s in the old section of Montreal and if it’s still operating, then you won’t be able to miss it. It’s pretty amazing!