Norman

Norman, water color on paper, 5x7 inch

Living in Bangkok makes Norman feel alive 24/7, at a constant peak, feeding off the relentless energy flowing all around.  His older sister back in London disapproves.  She worries that he’ll never come back and settle down.   When’s the last time you had a girlfriend who was your own age and white, she says.  What will happen when you’re old? What can Norman say, he’s become a Bangkok addict, needs his Thai energy fix every day. Going back to England would leave him cold.

Tilac Agogo

Tilac Agogo, water color on paper, 5x7 inch

The girls at Tilac Bar are often mothers of one or two young children left back in dusty farming villages with grandparents.  They finished school at the end of sixth grade, had their babies before they turned 20 and came to Bangkok after their husbands died or left, looking for a way out, trying to be stylish, hoping for the best and sending 5000 Baht a month back home.  Sometimes they get lucky and end up in California, Germany, England or Australia.  Sometimes they don’t and disappear off the face of the earth.