Here is the opening statement for my coming show. Whenever I go to art shows and read the artist statement they usually come across as pretentious artspeak gobbledygook. I wanted mine to be accessible to the reader and true to what I experienced without the high highfaluting art talk verbage crap. I wanted the statement to be about the people I photographed not about me.
Here is the opening statement:
"The Train Is Coming”: Portraits
from Klong Toey Slum, Bangkok Thailand.
I chose a
rather strange title for this show but it comes with an important story. In one
area of Bangkok’s Klong Toey slum there is a railway track that runs
straight down between the slum shacks. The trains comes through this area at
regular intervals, upwards of 10 times a day, they pass so close to the crowded
homes you can actually touch them as they go by. These slow moving trains are quite
dangerous but locals are very aware of what’s happening and clear the track
area before they come through.
I was photographing on the tracks one day and the train was coming, I was oblivious to this and concentrating on composing and shooting my pictures. Then something rather beautiful happened. A young girl maybe 7 or 8 years old came over to me, looked up at me with innocent eyes and said in a calm quiet voice the Thai words “Rot fai mar.” - "The train is coming." and then she took hold of my hand and walked me to a safe place (inside a nearby slum shack), we stayed in there with some others as the trained rumbled by, then she just smiled and left. I always thought this small act of concern and kindness for others shown by this young girl embodied the sentiment of most of the slum inhabitants. The character of the people I was photographing was symbolized by this simple gesture and that’s the reason I chose it for the show title.
Klong Toey
is the largest slum in Bangkok with a population of around 100 000, its shack
homes, schools, restaurants and other businesses are built illegally on
government land owned by the Port Authority of Thailand. The slum has been in
existence for roughly 50 years and is divided into different areas collectively
known as Klong Toey, one part runs next to the Chao Phraya river another along
a canal (Klong in Thai = canal) and on both sides of an in use railway track.
Even thou Klong
Toey is a dangerous place filled with drugs and crime the friendliness of the people
who live there quickly made me feel safe and welcome. Everywhere I went smiling
Klong Toey residents approached and spoke to me, I was often offered food,
water and asked to into people’s homes. The children were especially outgoing
and curious. One time as I was sitting and talking to an older Thai woman 2
young twin girls who were around 6 years old came up to me, they stood to my
left and right and looked at me closely their eyes filled with wonder, then one
girl reached out with her hand and gently pulled on my nose and said “Jamook
yai mak!” – “Your nose is so big!” For a young child in the slum who had never
been up close to a tall white skinned Westerner with a big nose, seeing one for
the first time can be quite an adventure.
Thank you
for coming to the show and spending time with the people I met in Klong Toey.
Gerry Yaum
Gerry Yaum was born and raised
in Edmonton; He is a self-taught photographer and printer and has traveled
extensively in South East Asia photographing a variety of subjects. Most
notable amongst the projects he is working on is a series of portraits on “Sex
Workers” and another series of portraits called “Common Lives”. His work has
been exhibited in a variety of group shows and is scheduled to be part of the
2013 PhotoNOLA photography festival in New Orleans. His photography is also
included in the provincial art collection of Alberta and has been collected
internationally.
If you wish to donate funds or
volunteer to help the people of Klong Toey, please visit Father Joseph Maier’s
Mercy Centre.
