MultiPaws: Mural Making at Wat PhutthaBucha

MultiPaws

My partner for this mural-making project is Natalia Ludmila.  The project is part of the BangMod Canal International Art Project in Communities program.

The mural-making activities were all held within the grounds of Wat Phutthabucha in the Thung Khru district of Bangkok.  We worked with two different groups in making this mural.  The first group comprised of BangMod Fest's seven Malaysian student-volunteers.  It was with them that we first held the silhouette tracing activity.

The next day, we met with 12-year-old Thai students from the school located beside the Wat (the students simply used the road by the canal to reach the grounds of the Wat).  We led a similar silhouette tracing activity with them.  Unlike the volunteers, these kids spoke minimal English.  We didn't have someone to translate for us during the morning activity but we managed anyway.  The kids were quick to pick up on how we wanted the activity to go.

the different poses the kids thought up.

Just as we were finishing up on the tracing activity, the Malaysian volunteers arrived.  Building on the tracing activity, they then led the kids to a couple of team-building games.  The rest of us joined in.

The Malaysian volunteers - Anissha, Jack, Michael, Nivehthaa, Rubinia, Shalini, and Wei - continued to help us in the mural-making.  The wall assigned for our mural was within the Wat complex, near the canal road, and right next to a canal bridge.

Mixed in the black paint outline of the mural is recycled magnetic powder procured from the Environment Engineering department of KMUTT.  As a test for succeeding collaborative projects, the use of this powder was aimed at facilitating the access of visually-impaired audiences to the public artwork.  The collaboration with KMUTT Environment Engineering department was facilitated by the Bangkok-based ARC Station.

In the afternoon, local women began setting up big umbrellas for us at the site.  

It was the first time for some of the Malaysian volunteers to participate in mural-making.  One had expected to simply paint a "drawing that had been drawn by someone".  They enjoyed the process of seeing the mural take shape, not quite knowing how it would turn out, and then still being surprised upon seeing the mural when it was finally completed.  Our heartfelt thanks to them.

Working on until the late afternoon: Me, a dog, and Natalia.

In Natalia's words, MultiPaws (people-assisted works) is "a play on words that alludes to its people-centred processes and the large dog community that cohabits within the mural's vicinity".

Work continued the next day.

During the weekend of the BangMod Creative Community Festival 2, the mural gathered some comments from locals and visitors.  See the comments in this post.

Some photos are c/o Nivehthaa and Wei Wan.

Update (2021) - the project has been included in the Social Art Library.