David Elliott: A City Under Water Exhibition

A CITY UNDER WATER Exhibition Coming June 9, 2012...

Having first traveled to Bangkok in 1998, I have always felt an intimacy with this city and its people. As news of the floods unravelled last year, I felt a strong desire to once again return to Thailand. What ensued were numerous calls to Mednune, a Thai friend of mine who was heavily involved in the relief efforts, and me subsequently heading for the airport.

My four days in Bangkok began with Mednune picking me up from the Airport and heading straight for Pathum Thani, the longest and heaviest area under water. As we arrived quite late it turned out to be just an exploratory trip, but it also gave us much-needed mental preparation for the days to follow.

Each day began with us driving to a different place to gather pre-arranged supplies, such as water, milk, dog food, other food products and medicine. With a loaded car, we would head for the flood zone where boats were standing by to take us in. Boats were a necessity to travel anywhere as the milk tea-colored water reached up to more than five feet in certain areas- the water was in stark contrast to the imagery I captured.

The surrealism of floating by submersed houses, laughing kids splashing in the flood water and mirrored reflections were a photographer's dream, but from a human perspective, the diseased rife water and the loss weighed heavily on my heart.

A typical day would be spent shooting, feeding dogs, handing out supplies and trying to lend comfort to my friend who could find no solace. She spent countless hours on the phone trying to arrange supplies, proving herself to be a true humanitarian. She was 100 percent emotionally invested in what she was doing.. If we got 200 people supplies, there were 1000 who did not receive any. There was a moment as we veered towards a lady sitting on a makeshift raft made of styrofoam, her pain very clearly masked her entire face. As I held my camera up, my eyes welled up with tears and emotion overtook me. Reluctantly I put my camera down(the image today still remains in my head) and handed her some supplies.

As we finished that day emotionally drained, Mednune and I spoke about a possible exhibition. I thought it would be a perfect way to raise funds for some of the people who lost everything, except their beautiful smiles.

Following that trip on my return to Hong Kong I met with my dear friend Ann, knowing she would be able to help get this project running. A few months have passed and I’m now extremely hopeful this project will be a success.

Kee Magazine

May 2012

A large part of my thought process in life is finding a way to help other people, so when I took the road of a photographer a few years back, it opened the door for many opportunities. I've always believed in a very "hands on" approach and the A City Under Water project was just that. Having in the past donated some images for charity purposes (which I'm sure helped and is great) is just not the same as taking a project from beginning to end.