Young People, Big Voices, Bangkok Noi: a participatory street photography project for connecting youth to a traditional community in a changing Bangkok

Abstract

This paper describes a participatory project aimed at understanding how young people identify with where they live, a village called Ban Bu in a sub-district of Bangkok called Bangkok Noi. The village is famous for its traditional artisans and its atmosphere of a bygone era in Thailand. Today, the character of the community is dying out with its ageing population, and with the external forces of economic development and modernization. In coordination with Siriraj Hospital’s Corporate Social Responsibility Unit, the researchers organized a street photography project to engage teenagers from the local high school. The aim of the project was to see if street photography would inspire the students to think about their community differently through the stories depicted in their pictures of the neighborhood. The results show that the street photography project was very popular among the participants, and did inspire new perspectives, and raise appreciation for the community. However, it is unclear to what extent the project instilled a lasting sense of civic pride and engagement.