80 slides projection

This series was orchestrated by Chai Siris, a photo-artist interested in the lives of the homeless people of Sanam Luang, the place at the heart of Bangkok next to Royal Palace. Rather than taking the pictures himself, during september 2007 until january 2008, he gave the subjects disposable cameras to photograph whatever struck them as being worthy of commemoration.

The sudden appearance and disappearance of images in a slide show being the ideal way of presenting the restless lives of the wandering homeless who never stay long in one place. All these photographs reveal in an interesting way the life perspectives and surroundings of the homeless people who live in that area; the insider’s perspective. They are not being viewed from the outside in the usual way that magazines and newspapers feature them. These colourful pictures are full of stories: the love between a mother and her child, the love between friends who share a common fate; pictures of drunks and a drinking binge.

We can hear laughter and weeping coming through these images. We see the festive coloured neons that celebrate the sixtieth anniversary of the king’s reign, which are the ambient lights of their outdoor bedroom.

text by manit sriwanichpoom