In northern Thailand, almost every home, shop and temple has a san phra phum, a small spirit house for the guardian spirits of the land, fed daily with flowers, fruit, drinks and incense. When one is replaced it can’t simply be thrown away. Old spirit houses are carried to the foot of sacred trees and temple grounds and left together, weathering slowly into the roots.

Over one year in Chiang Mai, Rio Crane and I photographed these quiet gatherings alongside the shrines still in daily use. The series became Lanna Whispers, a bilingual English/Thai photobook. A whisper isn’t dying. It’s just quiet enough to miss unless you’re paying attention.

Stephen Portman & Rio Crane

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