2 Books Like Bangkok Street Art and Graffiti

The British author and cultural chronicler Philip Cornwel-Smith has called Bangkok his home for a quarter century, and his book “Very Thai,” published in 2005, has become the standard go-to work for inquiries on all aspects of popular Thai culture. Now, his follow-up “Very Bangkok,” a 350-page ode of love to the city published just before COVID-19 made international travel impossible, has become the face of Thailand in an international exhibition devoted to global cities.

In sections entitled “Senses,” “Heart” and “Face,” Cornwel-Smith’s new book explores and explains myriad urban tales, myths, facts and contradictions that make up the personality of the Thai capital, accompanied by the author’s vivid color photographs. No foreign or Thai writer has published a book that comes close to providing as erudite and intimate portrait of the capital.

This collection of short stories, set between 1980 and 2016, portrays the lives of a handful of recurring characters, and while anyone with a vague knowledge of Thailand will recognize the cultural tropes typically associated with the country, the world offered by Nardone, who is Thai American, is one that is largely hidden from outsiders.
Western readers are likely to be surprised by the chasm between the well-established Thai stereotypes of beach holidays, spicy food and raucous nightlife and the tough realities of daily life in the country. As the buildings in old cowboy movies are merely assemblies of two-dimensional exteriors, cultural and political symbols that form the basis for the country’s image abroad, turn out to be substitutes for very different realities that play out behind the freshly painted facades put up for tourists. Both the characters and readers are entrapped between two opposite realities, unable to commit to… show more.