Buddhist Murals of Northeast Thailand: Reflections of the Isan Heartland (Mekong Press)

Books on mural painting in Thailand have tended to focus on works commissioned by royalty or other elites from the centers of power. This volume is the first to examine a vibrant sub-school of painting from the rural heartland of the Northeastern Region, also known as Isan. It is a multifaceted and empathetic study of these lovely and lively paintings, and will appeal to anyone interested in the Mekong Region as well as to scholars of art history, Buddhism, and anthropology in Southeast Asia.

Bonnie Pacala Brereton is an American art historian and Buddhist studies scholar who specializes in vernacular forms of cultural expression in Thailand's peripheral regions. Somroay Yencheuy grew up in a silkweaving village in Khon Kaen and has written extensively in Thai on Isan art, literature, shadow play, and traditional material culture.