Here are 2 books that Welcome Me to the Kingdom fans have personally recommended if you like
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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 pioneering insight into contemporary Thai folk culture delves beyond the traditional Thai icons to reveal the casual, everyday expressions of Thainess that so delight and puzzle. From floral truck bolts and taxi altars to buffalo cart furniture and drinks in a bag, the same exquisite care, craft and improvisation resounds through home and street, bar and wardrobe. Never colonised, Thai culture retains nuanced ancient meaning in the most mundane things. The days are colour coded, lucky numbers dictate prices, window grilles become guardian angels, tattoos entrance the wearer. Philip Cornwel-Smith scoured each region to show how indigenous wisdom both…
The Victorian mansion, Evenmere, is the mechanism that runs the universe.
The lamps must be lit, or the stars die. The clocks must be wound, or Time ceases. The Balance between Order and Chaos must be preserved, or Existence crumbles.
Appointed the Steward of Evenmere, Carter Anderson must learn the…
As in other countries, graffiti producers in Thailand generally remain on the fringes of the art world, where many say they belong if they are to have authenticity and impact. But last year’s inclusion of Thai outsider artist Peerachai Patanapornchai in the Bangkok Art Biennale, which also featured mainstream art icons such as Ai Weiwei and Marina Abramović, indicates that visual street culture is finding traction in mainstream popular culture. Peerachai is interviewed at length in “Bangkok Street Art and Graffiti,” by Rupert Mann. In 2013, Mann had stumbled upon the remnants of The Bangkok Elevated Road and Train System, commonly known as the Hopewell project after its main contractor, an ill-fated attempt to construct a railway mass transit system in Thailand. In 1990, Mann writes, Hong Kong Tycoon Gordon Wu was awarded a contract to build both a road and a railway above existing State Rail Transport lines. Work…
Documenting an alternative history and social commentary by Bangkok's graffiti and street artists, this insightful and thought-provoking book offers fresh insight into Thai subcultures. Not given a platform elsewhere, street art and graffiti gives artists the opportunity to protest the social injustices they encounter. Through their art, they speak out against dictators and the political elite, as well as the extensive gentrification sweeping Bangkok. In addition, this book is the only visual record of (what was sarcastically named) "Thailand's Stonehenge": standing pillars covered in graffiti along the abandoned Hopewell elevated rail line that was supposed to link the city to…
