This episode of The Monochrome Chronicles delves deep below the surface of a place I discovered in an out-of-the-way corner of Bangkok’s Bang Rak district. This has been my secret for some 10 years. In my mind’s eye it is a dark and disturbing place, which is part of why I’ve kept it secret. My attraction to such a place was a mystery to me for a long time. Finally I had to look inward to make some sense of the experience.
Bangkok’s Charoen Krung Road is distinguished by rows shophouses lining both sides of the street. Constructed early in the 20th century, the buildings feature shops at street level and homes for the shopkeepers on the second floor.
One hot humid afternoon, on a block of such shophouses and amid all the sidewalk vendors, I noticed a gap in the stalls, and inside the gap I espied a narrow hallway. My little voice cried out, “What ho!” and my camera said, “Follow me.”
Deep inside Bang Rak the atmosphere is dark and mysterious. The concrete walls are coated with grime that has accumulated over many years. Gloom hovers everywhere. In this image, three ancient rusty motorbikes complement the grimy wall and ironically the shiny stainless steel door only heightens the gloom in the scene. The overriding atmosphere in the photograph portrays a sense of a threat, an other-worldly hint of danger lurking within.
My first impression was that, though outside the weather was sunny and sweltering, inside the space was cooler and dim. I ventured further and discovered a huge space that had been carved out from behind the row of shophouses. In the course of several visits in subsequent years, I found that this interior space extended to almost the entire block behind the shophouses and the side streets as well. This was Bang Rak market.
Inside this space was a warren of narrow passageways, largely vacant but with a smattering of small shops. These passageways were dark and most of the shops were dimly lit – and seemed to have been operating there for decades without improvements. One of the alleyways extended up to a second story roof, giving the feeling of a huge dark warehouse.
Inside Bang Rak, I was on my own, just me, my camera and my little inner voice. No one knew where I was. Usually I went there once a year, sometimes twice. Each time I ventured a bit deeper.
A falsely inviting introduction to the interior space because the photographic values of the image are predominantly in the midrange. Some elements of the composition hint at the more disturbing features that await, just outside the frame. Thus, this rather soothing image lulls the viewer’s expectations and then what follows will be the more disorienting. That is the spirit of Bang Rak.
Maybe this is hardly the atmosphere I’ve conjured up thus far. This back alley differs from the rest of Bang Rak for having no roof over the alley. Never mind, the spirit of Bang Rak extends here. A canvas awning covers half the street and a few vendors’ stalls hover in the gloom underneath. The motor bikes complete the scene. This alley runs past the butcher’s shops so the stale odor of meat and the run-off of blood and offal permeates the atmosphere. In a sense, the sunny modern building in the background only emphasizes the dimness of the alley itself.
Deep in the interior of Bang Rak sits this darkened and mostly vacant passageway, one of several. The walls on either side of the passage feature a series of roll-up steel gates, shielding spaces that…well, I’m not sure what would be behind them. The dark gray gates are old and rusted, giving the impression they’ve not been opened for a long time. Figuratively, they create a forbidding aura.
Even further into the interior, the darkness is fully developed and ironically the lights from the upper floors only serve to emphasize the darkness below. The perspective of this image is distorted intentionally. This might be a subterranean warren. The light filtering through the grilled windows is soft, too dim to illuminate the space below and creating an other-worldly aura.
Ironically, though these windows were wide open the view is indecipherable. The point of view in this image is at odds with the rest of the images in this series. I’ll not explain further. The image does hint that aspects of Bang Rak are still to be explored.
This window affords a far different view, or more correctly it obscures the view. Several elements coalesce in this image to create an almost abstract expression. The individual elements are unimportant, but together they create a threatening atmosphere. The impression here reflects the aura of mystery, laced with hints of danger, that pervades Bang Rak.
I was hooked. For the last 10 years, I’ve gone there at least once every time I’ve been in Bangkok. As with street photography, I can give free rein to my camera and my little voice. The scope and range of subjects is beyond imagination. And, I’ve never seen another foreigner there, or anybody with a camera. It has been my own private discovery.
The atmosphere in that gloomy marketplace in the space carved out behind the shophouses was otherworldly. The vendors seemed to outnumber the customers, and they would just sit and chat idly. Or, like this man, read the newspaper. This photograph has an almost surreal feeling.
The atmosphere in this scene is, well, mysterious. Several interpretations are possible, hovering on the far edge of imagination. In this instance, many details are visible but they only contribute to the mystery without offering concrete clues.
Then finally the most remarkable area. The back half of the space is given over to myriad empty butcher’s tables, waiting for the next morning’s slaughter. The exterior walls on three sides are open to the surrounding alleys, allowing indirect light into the space. Just imagine the atmosphere of such shops in an un-airconditioned, poorly ventilated space in Bangkok’s hot, humid climate.
In a literal sense, this image reveals the source of the dim atmosphere in Bang Rak. It also reveals the bare-bones, no-nonsense environment of the space. Granted that the image is slightly out of focus, this too is an element of the atmosphere. By late afternoon, the butchers’ day would have ended and there would be no need for artificial light.
The reality of this scene is immaterial. This is one stage of the butchers’ daily routine. The photograph, then, becomes an abstract expression. My role as photographer is finished. Interpretation of the image is the role of the viewer in this instance.
The reality of this scene is immaterial. This is one stage of the butchers’ daily routine. The photograph, then, becomes an abstract expression. My role as photographer is finished. Interpretation of the image is the role of the viewer in this instance.
A butcher’s day starts in early morning and work ends in early afternoon. And then…well, I would be remiss to speculate. I don’t even know whether this man is a butcher. His body language is quite expressive despite the passive look on his face. An unusual subject in an unusual setting but still an expressive image.
Late in the afternoon, time seems to be almost suspended. In the few stalls that are open the vendors sit languorously waiting for customers who never materialize.
A calendar should symbolize time but this one emphasizes the barrenness of the space. This was a single sheet from a calendar, so today might be isolated from the rest of time. In all, this image portrays sadness.
Taken out of context these meat hooks become symbols. The imagery may be too intense for some. Memories long buried, suppressed but never forgotten.
At the end of their day (midafternoon for everyone else), the butchers would hose down and clean the corridors. The floors here are bare concrete, as they are in most of the rest of the space. In this photograph, the bright background (from an alleyway behind the shops) and the dark foreground set the mood, and reflect the gloomy interior of the marketplace.
The perspective and composition are unusual, too, making a stronger statement. Though my street photography tends to be more close-up, here the point of view is more distant.
The butchers’ section dominates a large part of the interior of Bang Rak, surrounded by a few smaller vendor’s shops – such as a barber shop, a hairdresser’s shop and a snack shop – as well as abundant vacant space. On a different level, both literally and figuratively, sits one space designed for entertainment and, incidentally, socializing: a snooker hall.
The snooker hall is upstairs on the second floor. Late afternoon on a weekday, few people (all men) would be shooting snooker in a dim quiet large room, with eight or ten snooker tables, a single downlight hanging over each one. The action is slow and quiet.
The snooker hall is upstairs on the second floor. Late afternoon on a weekday, few people (all men) would be shooting snooker in a dim quiet large room, with eight or ten snooker tables, a single downlight hanging over each one. The action is slow and quiet.
To bring this survey of Bang Rak back full circle, an open courtyard sits at the far back corner. The physical connection with the marketplace is tenuous but the spiritual connection is clear. Though the courtyard is open to the sky and sun, nonetheless the gloom of the interior space somehow encroaches onto the courtyard.
The interior space meanders. It spans the full width and length of a city block and even extends to, and incorporates, part of the courtyard.
The composition of this image is…well, just let me say this image gives a true interpretation of the site. To try to describe it in words would be fruitless. Still, the photograph expresses the atmosphere of the place.
An unsettling, disorienting view incorporating both interior and exterior space. The strong contrast between dark and light emphasizes the gloominess inside. The lack of detail further emphasizes the mood. Nothing was happening here. In the image, the light spins out along three axes, giving a strong sense of perspective. Still, there are few if any clues about what goes on here.
Thus far, this episode has focused on the dark, murky side of Bang Rak – reflecting my bias. Another side exists as well, though still tinged with an overcast aura. For the inhabitants of Bang Rak, such is their daily fare.
An incongruous view from the interior space, a combination of despair and domesticity. The two shop spaces appear to have been abandoned and neglected, their steel gates rolled down as if permanently closed. Laundry hung out to dry hints that people live nearby. The juxtaposition of these disparate elements nonetheless creates a haunting aura, captured on film.
Reflecting the somber mood of Bang Rak, this man sits in the dim light from a dusty window. His face is impassive though his eyes stare intently into my lens. The image raises many questions but offers few answers. The composition, though fortuitous, is classical – and at odds with the content of the image.
An anachronism would be sitting in the middle of the main alleyway – a seamstress sitting in front of her ancient sewing machine quietly making clothes. Her sewing machine, though it probably was manufactured in the 1950s or earlier, was as sleek and black as it must have been when it was new. Maybe the machine had been motorized, or maybe she still operates it by foot treadle.
In the absence of customers, the atmosphere generally is quiet. Quiet enough for this woman to take a nap in the afternoon. The furnishings in many of the shops are old, dusty and outdated, as is the glass in the doors and windows, giving the impression that here the clocks had stopped many years ago.
One final image from Bang Rak, which may seem to be out of synch with the rest of the images. This building forms one wall of the courtyard behind the main space. How this view complements the series is, frankly, unclear to me – but it does. The architecture of this building hints at the origin of the whole complex. The vast interior space was carved out from behind the original shophouses, which remain on Charoen Krung Road. Somehow this building must have been associated with the shophouses (at least in my imagination). This whole complex is rife with possibilities and with questions.
You may wonder what draws me to such a place? The atmosphere is unlike anywhere I have ever been: gloomy, dank, and humid, most of the shopkeepers nearly inert. The whole space is strangely quiet. Something pulls me in. The mood is foreboding and at the same time exciting. A couple of the narrow walkways are vacant and unkempt, and I feel I shouldn’t be there. And yet, there is the temptation of titillation. Maybe this place is near “The Hole in the Universe”? (See The Monochrome Chronicles #18.)
This episode of The Monochrome Chronicles has focused on a largely hidden place in Bangkok, one which I’ve kept to myself for some 10 years. I’ve kept this secret on several levels. At a basic level, this has been my own personal discovery, not found on any map. I’ve never seen another foreigner there or anyone with a camera. On another level, I am in awe of the experience. I’ve never seen such a place anywhere. The experience of going there usually only once a year magnifies the mystery. In the main, however, the spirit of Bang Rak speaks to me in a way I cannot explain in words, only in black-and-white photographs. Even then it took me nearly 10 years before I felt I knew the secrets of Bang Rak well enough to express my impressions in black-and-white.