Monday 20 August 2012

Art and the Tsunami


The picture above is done by Top Thumvanit. He is a young talented Thai artist that graduated from Silpakorn University with a degree in Fine Art. As with many artists, and especially in Thailand, he found it hard to make ends meet as an artist.

At first he worked as a street artist in Sukhumvit. Next he tried his luck in Krabi. He eventually found a stable income in Khao Lak. He managed to open his open his own small gallery called appropriately ‘Top Art’. One of his best works is a picture of the boat washed up in land after the terrible tsunami of 2004. He wasn’t in Khao Lak when the tidal wave hit land, but like nearly everyone living in Thailand, the event left a permanent impression.

After the clear up, the boat was left in the jungle as a poignant monument to the terrible power of nature and the tragedy that it caused along the western coastline of Thailand.

Top has since got married and moved yet again to Koh Phangan. He is working from Wang Thong Gallery. It is a small space in a forest near the famous beach of Thong Nai Pan Yai.

We wish him success with his new venture in Koh Phangan. And we thank him for leaving his own artistic interpretation of what must surely be the most famous boat in Khao Lak.

The boat is a police patrol boat. If you are interested, you can find it 1 km inland, east of route 4 in Bang Niang.

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