It was during the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 when two foreigners founded a nonprofit organization to help the poorest residents of Bangkok’s Khlong Toei area by providing food, necessities, and COVID testing.
Three years later, the pandemic is now endemic, and two photographers will showcase the lives of those heavily affected by the pandemic and how they were aided by the volunteers in 100 images taken by Kevin Grafton and Nathalie Jamois at Can’t Stop, Won’t Stop.
Grafton said the goal was to document all that happened.
“This won’t be a highly curated, high-brow exhibition because that’s not who we are or what this is meant to represent. It’s meant to be the end of an era, to remember things that shouldn’t be forgotten, it’s two years of just doing and going and going and going, barely controlled chaos, hence the name ‘Can’t Stop, Won’t Stop,’” he said.
The duo’s photographs highlight the difficulties faced by those in Bangkok’s most underprivileged communities – namely the homeless, children, and families living in what is known as the Khlong Toei slum.
In one image, homeless people wait in a long line on Rajadamnern Road to get food. Other photos capture children swimming in floodwaters and Bon Kai fire victims sifting through donated clothes.
“The choice of photos are more about strong moments that touched me and Kevin … through unimaginable situations like mass COVID testings, flooding, fire, food aids, helping the individuals and various communities,” said Jamois, a freelance photographer born in France. “It’s a kind of tribute that I pay for the volunteers and the people who receive this help, and their eternal optimism in the face of harnessing their daily lives.
The Bangkok Community Help Foundation was founded by Greg Lange and Friso Poldervaart at the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020.
It focuses on helping those most affected city residents such as those in Khlong Toei as well as construction worker camps. The foundation then expanded to build homes for low-income families, teach underprivileged children at a weekly class, and help them with tutoring fees, school uniforms, computers, and learning materials.
“This was a group of 500 volunteers, none of us professionals really, who did some incredible things during a really bad time for Thailand and the world, and now continue to do some extraordinary things in a better time,” said Grafton, who is originally from Dallas, Texas.
The exhibition will not be held at a gallery but a school library where the foundation built a quarantine center and renovated during the peak of COVID.
“We’re very grateful to the school for allowing us to hold the exhibition. It really is things coming full circle,” Grafton said.
Can’t Stop, Won’t Stop exhibition will run from Jan. 14 through Jan. 21 at a library inside the Wat That Thong School. The venue is located next to BTS Ekkamai. The opening night runs 6pm until 9pm on Jan. 14. The event then will run 10am until 6pm until Jan. 21.
All prints are available for purchase. All proceeds will be donated to the Bangkok Community Help Foundation.
“It’s kind of a victory lap. It’s a chance to show what happened and reflect on everything now that the really dire stuff – COVID – is mostly, hopefully, behind us,” Grafton said.
