A Gwent photographer has documented Thailand’s spirit houses and the rituals associated with them during a year based in Chiang Mai, northern Thailand.
Stephen Portman, originally from Caerleon and now living in Nepal, photographed the small shrines found outside homes, shops and temples.
Families place daily offerings at these structures for the guardian spirits associated with the surrounding land.
The shrines are intended to provide accommodation for a Phra Phum, the guardian spirit believed to inhabit every plot of land in Thailand.
Offerings can include water, flowers, incense and bottles of red Fanta.
When a spirit house requires replacement, the old structure cannot simply be discarded.
Portman explained that retired shrines are transported to sacred trees and temple grounds, where they are placed alongside others and gradually deteriorate among the roots.
Groups of discarded spirit houses, known as spirit house graveyards, can be found throughout Chiang Mai, often concealed in ordinary locations.
These sites include areas beneath ancient Bodhi trees.
Portman’s work has been assembled in Lanna Whispers, a 120-page photographic book presented in both English and Thai.
He created it with his partner, Rio Crane.
The pair are seeking funding for the book’s print run through a Kickstarter campaign scheduled to continue until November 12.
All of the photographs were taken in Chiang Mai.
The book is divided into four phases, with each section examining another element of the spirit house tradition.
It records everyday devotions and ceremonial practices involving Chiang Mai’s spirit houses, as well as journeys to the graveyards where former shrines gather beneath ancient trees.