PICHAI RATTANAPORNCHAI

First published: March 2026

For over 20 years, Pichai Rattanapornchai has been drawing on the pavements of his home city trying to fulfil a very personal mission

Walking the streets of Bangkok, in the city’s swelter, it is best to stick to the shade – and to stay alert. Cockroaches scurry across cracked paving stones as motorbikes trespass in a city constantly delivering. This metropolis, perennially in transition, is never dull; there is always something to catch your eye.

Pichai Rattanapornchai in 2025. Image: Stephen Lorriman and Tim Williams

So it is when you first encounter the drawings of Pichai Rattanapornchai on the pavement. At first you may think that a government engineer has scribbled such diagrams; perhaps they are finally taking down the city’s infamous tangles of electrical wires. But look closer, see what you can make out. A kettle? A no-stopping sign? A building of a certain architectural style? The South Korean flag? The British Isles? And amidst the scrawled Thai fragments, the occasional English word or phrase, such as: “Map Collin World” . You’re caught in the intricacies and the ciphers in the work. A surreal riddle, and you find yourself wanting to know more.

a Khmer statue, product logos and diagrams drawn near a kerb. Image: Stephen Lorriman and Tim Williams

In the distance, a slight man crouches on the ground, a blue bin bag at his side, cheap marker pen in hand. “People say these are mind maps,” says Rattanapornchai, “They’re not. They’re city plans. The city plans of other countries.” What these “city plans” actually mean, however, is unclear – even to native Thai speakers. For Rattanapornchai, he is not making art. He is scratching away at the surface to collect evidence. “I don’t care whether it’s beautiful. I’m collecting evidence about what happened to me,” he says. He’s sticking to a plan, a mission to fulfil “a promise I made to myself” .