{"id":76374,"date":"2025-08-18T21:57:09","date_gmt":"2025-08-18T21:57:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/76374\/"},"modified":"2025-08-18T21:57:09","modified_gmt":"2025-08-18T21:57:09","slug":"christopher-herwig-motors-through-southeast-asia-to-capture-a-vivid-fleet-of-trucks-and-tuks-colossal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/76374\/","title":{"rendered":"Christopher Herwig Motors Through Southeast Asia to Capture a Vivid Fleet of &#8216;Trucks and Tuks&#8217; \u2014 Colossal"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>From Pakistan to Sri Lanka, a vibrant tradition zooms down mountain passes and through city streets. The vernacular art form elaborately adorns vehicles with intricate motifs and celebrity portraits, while cabs brim with synthetic flowers, tassels, and dreamcatchers. A common sight on Southeast Asian roadways, these vivid modes of transport are the subject of a new book by photographer <a href=\"https:\/\/www.herwigphoto.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">Christopher Herwig<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Known for documenting Soviet-era <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thisiscolossal.com\/tags\/christopher-herwig\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">bus stops and metro stations<\/a>, Herwig\u2019s latest project Trucks and Tuks journeys 10,000 kilometers and 208 pages, capturing the wondrous, idiosyncratic custom. As Riya Raagini writes in the introduction, sajavat, or ornamentation and decoration, is an essential component of culture in the region, found on streets and within homes alike. \u201cEven before modern vehicles appeared in the region, people were decorating every conceivable mode of transport, from bullock carts to boats. Naturally, when trucks, tuk-tuks, and rickshaws began to arrive in the early 20th century, they were embellished in a similar fashion,\u201d Raagini adds.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1565\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/tuks-1.jpg\" alt=\"a colorfully painted tuk\" class=\"wp-image-460544\"  \/><\/p>\n<p>Today, this tradition is increasingly threatened. Several countries have cracked down on vehicle modifications citing safety concerns, while the proliferation of mass-produced decals and objects overtakes what was a largely hand-crafted art form. <\/p>\n<p>For Herwig, Trucks and Tuks glimpses what he calls \u201cthe poetry of the road,\u201d a complex mix of masculinity, creative expression, and hope. He writes: <\/p>\n<p>Alongside the practical elements found in the truckers\u2019 cabs, there was often an abundance of visual imagery in marked contrast to their challenging existence. Decorated with elaborate whimsical flare, dangling good luck charm,s and wallpaper showing idyllic scenes, they revealed a dream life. <\/p>\n<p>Published by <a href=\"https:\/\/fuel-design.com\/publishing\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">FUEL<\/a>, Trucks and Tuks is available for pre-order from <a href=\"https:\/\/bookshop.org\/a\/96\/9781739887889\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">Bookshop<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1004\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/tuks-11.jpg\" alt=\"a colorfully painted truck on a mountainous pass\" class=\"wp-image-460545\"  \/><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1334\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/tuks-16.jpg\" alt=\"two men sit inside the cab of a truck that's painted with bright motifs\" class=\"wp-image-460542\"  \/><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1600\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/tuks-15.jpg\" alt=\"a colorfully painted truck hauling a massive, puffy load with two motorcylists on the road next to \" class=\"wp-image-460541\"  \/><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1525\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/tuks-21.jpg\" alt=\"a colorfully painted truck painted with red and orange vibrant motifs and two motorcylists on the road next to \" class=\"wp-image-460540\"  \/><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1334\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/tuks-20.jpg\" alt=\"a small tuk vehicle with shelving and breads in the back\" class=\"wp-image-460539\"  \/><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1334\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/tuks-19.jpg\" alt=\"a person at the wheel of a truck with dangling fringe and other vibrant objects on the ceiling\" class=\"wp-image-460538\"  \/><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1506\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/tuks-7.jpg\" alt=\"a colorfully painted truck with the words &quot;infant jesus&quot; at the top\" class=\"wp-image-460537\"  \/><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1378\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/tuks-13.jpg\" alt=\"a person drives a small, elaborately painted yellow tuk\" class=\"wp-image-460576\"  \/><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1608\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/tuks-9.jpg\" alt=\"the cover of the book trucks and tuks\" class=\"wp-image-460577\"  \/><\/p>\n<p>Do stories and artists like this matter to you? Become a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thisiscolossal.com\/members\/\" data-type=\"page\" data-id=\"118516\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Colossal Member<\/a> now, and support independent arts publishing.<\/p>\n<p>Hide advertising<\/p>\n<p>Save your favorite articles<\/p>\n<p>Get 15% off in the <a href=\"https:\/\/colossal.shop\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Colossal Shop<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Receive members-only newsletter<\/p>\n<p>Give 1% for art supplies in K-12 classrooms<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"From Pakistan to Sri Lanka, a vibrant tradition zooms down mountain passes and through city streets. The vernacular&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":76375,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[6225,6485,6486,39079,1120,96,39080,39081,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-76374","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-arts-and-design","8":"tag-arts","9":"tag-arts-and-design","10":"tag-artsanddesign","11":"tag-christopher-herwig","12":"tag-design","13":"tag-entertainment","14":"tag-folk-art","15":"tag-trucks","16":"tag-uk","17":"tag-united-kingdom","18":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/76374","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=76374"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/76374\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/76375"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=76374"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=76374"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=76374"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}