A ROYAL VIEW OF HARDSHIP

While assisting with last year’s flood-relief efforts in Ayutthaya and Pathum Thani, Her Royal Highness Princess Sirivannavari Nariratana, couldn’t help but document the disastrous scenes with her camera.
Now the Thailand Creative and Design Centre is offering a visual reminder of the great flood through the Princess’ eyes in an exhibition titled “A Water Journey”.
The exhibition, which runs until December 16, presents the Princess as a charismatic photographer whose work not only captures the lives of people during a particularly hard time but also serves as a timely reminder of unpredictable natural disasters.
The 42 photographs, which show affected people living amid the water, abandoned roads, submerged temples and walkways hastily devised to help dogs reach safety, are among the many she took while participating in volunteer missions in the Central region.
Apart from distributing bags of relief supplies and positive encouragement, the Princess realised the significance of future disaster-preparedness. The exhibition shares her personal views and experiences through a visual record of human expressions and animal reactions, as well as the objects, scenes and sights she beheld.
“They are photographic works of art really worth viewing and publicising,” says Apisit Laistrooglai, the centre’s managing director.
“The centre requested royal permission to organise the exhibition,” he says. “It not only offers a rare chance for the public to admire the Princess’ photographic skills, but also demonstrates how the imaging process can perfectly blend with artistic merit. We believe this exhibition serves as a reminder of the effects of the recent flood, and will help us devel
 op better preventive and reactive measures for future disasters.”
The entire collection is also available in a hardcover book, also titled “A Water Journey”, which is on sale at the exhibition for Bt300. All proceeds from the sales go to the Princess’ charity projects.

  EVER PREPARING
- “A Water Journey” runs until December 16 in the TCDC entrance hall on the sixth floor of the Emporium shopping complex.

- It’s open Tuesday to Sunday from 10.30am to 9pm. Admission is free. Call (02) 6648448 extensions 213/214 or visit www.tcdc.or.th www.tcdc.or.th.

- Also on display until January 6 is the temporary exhibition “Always Prepare: Living with changes”, which explores how we can prepare for the unexpected by reflecting on Thailand’s experiences with floods in 2011 and Japan’s Great Hanshin Earthquake in 1995.