Urban Bangkok: Contemporary Reflections
Joakim Leroy


THE CITY OF BANGKOK is a destination that represents many things to many people, both residents and visitors alike.

To Thais, Bangkok may be the cultural and religious hub of their 70 million-strong nation, or perhaps it's the glowing lights of opportunity for those from the country's hinterlands, determined to better their lot.

To visitors from other lands, 10 million or more annually, Bangkok may be a colourful and photogenic vacation stopover, a place to ‘let down one’s hair’ and party ‘til dawn, or an opportunity to shop, to seek renewal in its famed spas, to sample a world-renowned cuisine—or all of the above. The list of options seems endless and is never routine or dull.

But Bangkok is a complex city, with multiple and often confounding facets, moreover one that seems to be in constant flux. For the foreign visitor, or even long time residents, capturing and understanding the essence of the city seems an elusive, even impossible goal.

Photographer Joakim Leroy, in undertaking this daunting task, has dedicated years to produce a compelling portrait of contemporary Bangkok. Leroy distills the glittering gold of temple spires, the colourful shops and streets, the flashing neon lights of nighttime, to sometimes poignant, sometimes dramatic monochromes, and thereby approaches the very heart and soul of this great metropolis and their charming inhabitants, those ‘Thais with their notorious smiles’.

Join Joakim in an unforgettable journey through the streets of this most memorable of cities—for all who have ever visited or stayed in Bangkok, or who only wish they had.