The small town of Prasae in south-east Thailand has undergone a bit of regeneration. It was always a pleasant little lived-in town on the edge of the Prasae river's estuary but recent efforts have turned it into a very attractive place to visit. For me a big part of the success of this project is the wonderful street art that now adorns the buildings, fences, doors and walls along the town's narrow main street.
As a coordinated project reflecting the interest and history of the area in an obvious but not overwhelming way it works so well. This is not the angry, disaffected grafitti that I grew up. The art is not about the artists' personal opinions but commissioned work about the Prasae area and the lives of its inhabitants. It has the purpose of adding to a community by celebrating it in an attractive way. I love it!
Here is a piece illustrating the small open museum just down the street. There are a number of people in these paintings who I suspect are real locals still living there or perhaps those of sigificance from the past. I don't know this for sure but they are just too carefully done to be generic. It must be nice to see yourself every day painted on a wall.
I assume this is another important local person, with the style of clothing and bicycle perhaps suggesting he's from an earlier generation.
Dugongs are famous but very-hard-to-find residents of the local coastline and in recent years they seem to have made a comeback after years of struggle. This is in part thanks to the efforts of the local human population so it's nice to recognise the connection by having dugong characters like these. This photo also shows that the area is still used daily so sometimes the artwork can get a bit obscured.
I can imagine the owners of these homes must have some pride in hosting great artworks like this family of dugongs.
Another dugong, perhaps as a comment on its fragile preservation or how it is tied to the local area.
There are even dugong superheroes!
A local coastline landmark brought into town. The street has also recently been very well redone to replace the original fairly ugly cement surface.
Some of the art merges well with whatever decoration or structures already exist.
And they can pop out of the smallest sections of wall. Fish, as you can see, are key to this community.
Mangrove forest, the physical protection it gives the coastline and its importance to the local fisheries are nicely recognised in this piece.
Not my favourite work on show but I'm sure it catches some people's imagination.
Another dramatic shark bursting into a painting of the major local attraction of the retired "Prasae" battleship that now sits on the seashore near the town as an accessible museum. Another painting shows the ship in earlier days during its navy service.
Again, unfortunately, I have no idea who this might be but I did notice that the number, 412, is also on the battleship above.
I love all the local detail that has gone into these paintings and just hope that they don't become memories of the real things are lost.
This is perhaps my favourite one. It's not very big but has such drama as the fish swim out of the wall. The little plate of fish-cakes is a nice touch, as is the living gecko clinging to a bubble!
Another lovely image of fish bursting out of a wall - a marlin chasing mackerel, I think.
As a cyclist, I also love this one. Looking at it I can see obvious links to Prasae in the wooden buildings, coconut palms and dugong but I can also sense there is a lot going on that is lost on me, which is a great balance for an artwork to reach. I actually wonder if the boy on the square-wheeled tricycle is a self-portrait by the artist.
Judging by the contents of the local waterways I think there is still a bit of work to do on trash management.
There seems to be two main artists involved in these paintings, most were done by "Yodchai" with some others by "Manoch.P." At least one of the artworks was a cooperation between the two of them. Congratulations and thanks to both of you!
Finally, a different style by a different artist but with similar Prasae themes.
These were all found along a few hundred metres of a single street and merged so well into the life of the town. This is the second such community street art project I have come across in Thailand and I really hope it's a growing trend.
