Street art gallery on the vestige of Ban Roeng Chit Memory
An interesting part of the street art culture is that it is a symbol against social subjects that are normally untouchable. It is a loud shout from street artists to express their opinions in a creative way and the former stand-alone theatre ‘Roeng Chit’ has become the convention of Phuket street artists where they are allowed to freely spray their thoughts away.
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One of the biggest pieces at the avenue is a graffiti against the elephants riding business. The ironic artwork pictures an elephant riding on an unhappy man to give the idea how unpleasant it is for those intelligent and loving wild animals to spend their lives exploited until the day they are retired.
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“The elephant is widely-known among Thai people and they are the official national animals of Thailand, having contributed to the development of the Thai society. They are wild animals that belongs in the jungle. Think about it, who do we think we are that we can force them to do as we please and ride them just for entertainment. We have cancelled slavery among humans in Thailand since King Rama V but we still treat animals like uncivilized people,” said Agradeth ‘Amann’ Tanhemnayoo, a group member of the artists behind the drawing.
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“I was contacted by @thailandelephants asking us to create some street arts so I said yes. We don’t mean to say that people shouldn’t be happy spending time with elephants but our message is that people can choose to be happy by observing the nature by their side without having to ride on them. I understand that we can’t stop elephant riding business immediately but we are offering an alternative way of traveling that is nature friendly.”
The crew went to make the art at the venue on August 12, which was World Elephant Day.
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“On the opposite side of the elephant riding a human is a cycling activity which we proposed as an option to tag along the elephant while trekking.”
“We plan to keep going back as we received a great support from the landlord, Ban Roeng Chit, and we planned together to make the avenue a centre to collect street arts. So far, we have a dozen of graffiti artists joining their talents and we want people to see the work from different creators.”
No matter whether you are a professional photographer or just visiting, Ban Roeng Chit is the new spot to observe street arts in the heart of Phuket town, where you’ll see more than just graffiti, but also the social injustice they represent.
