Thailand | 2025 | Participatory mural

Line of Lives – Threads of Care

In Bangkok, residents and artists are creating a participatory mural in Benjakitti Park. Colours and lines depict urban biodiversity and the interdependencies of living things, celebrating shared acts of kindness.

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A threatened link

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In Bangkok, rapid urbanisation is eating away at natural environments. Green spaces are giving way to infrastructure, accelerating the erosion of biodiversity and reducing the city’s ability to cope with climate change. As concrete advances, the link to living things is weakened, undermining a balance that is essential to physical and mental well-being.

In this changing landscape, public parks are among the last refuges where people can reconnect with nature. Often underfunded and confined to a recreational function, they are nevertheless valuable ecological reservoirs. Long considered secondary, the services they provide to the city – thermal regulation, water absorption, air quality – are now seen as indispensable in the face of intensifying environmental challenges.

Artist
Blue Dean, Montemith, Nong Pop

Partners
Bangkok Metropolitan Administration, Benjakitti Park teams

Participants
15 workshop participants, 15 park users interviewed

Agency
AFD Thailand

Gestures of care for living things

7 m²

In Bangkok, less than 7m² of green space per inhabitant.

artists.

participants.

In the heart of Bangkok, Benjakitti Park offers a space to breathe and coexist with living things. Metis supports the Line of Lives – Threads of Care initiative, led by AT EXCHANGE in partnership with the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration, which manages the park.

Two workshops bring together fifteen participants – local residents and park users. These exchanges provide an opportunity to share concrete experiences of the place, discuss urban biodiversity issues and reflect on ways of caring for public spaces. At the same time, fifteen interviews with visitors – runners, families, elderly people and occasional walkers – gather stories of everyday life and sensitive perceptions.

Using this material, three Thai artists developed a joint visual proposal. Blue Dean combines precise lines and warm colours to convey the link between city and nature; Montemith draws inspiration from popular Thai imagery to construct visual narratives rooted in the location; Nong Pop, a figure on the local street art scene, infuses energy and positivity through bright colours. The work takes the form of a participatory creation, translating collective narratives into a unified visual language.

The creation process takes place over a month, from the initial design to the completion of the mural in the park. Focusing on the interdependence of living things and shared acts of kindness, the mural is unveiled at a public event and installed permanently, accessible to all.