When Seth said ‘Laos,’ there was no way she was going to say ‘no,’ Martha Cooper will tell you.

After all, Laos is where she learned to drive a motorbike in the 1960s — a place she remembers by its dusty roads, warmth, and creative kids who know how to make their own fun. Sixty years later, she’s back with a camera in hand, documenting French street artist Seth Globepainter (Julien Malland) as he works his familiar magic at the edge of the Mekong.

Luang Prabang — a UNESCO World Heritage town framed by two rivers — is a place where ritual and imagination walk the same path. Early mornings mean barefoot monks collecting alms; afternoons mean kids splashing by the river or painting bold birds across the school walls. Seth’s murals slide right into that rhythm: playful figures, wide-eyed wonder, a bit of folklore and fantasy — public art as storytelling through the words and images of kids.

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Painting With the Community, Not Just for It

Seth was sure to stop at Lao Friends Hospital for Children, the only free pediatric hospital in Northern Laos. His mural — inspired by Hmong embroidered history cloths — became what he called an “extraordinary garden”on his Instagram – possibly one of heritage and healing. When Seth is around, young students are often seen taking brushes into their own hands, adding birds and shapes to a Free Expression Wall that gives them a chance to be collaborative. Martha, never far from the action, captures the imagination and concentration in their faces — the same instinct that drew her to kids on the streets of New York’s Lower East Side in the 1970s.

Further north in the rural Hoy Bor and Hoy Phoung villages, Seth teamed up with NKSEEDS to transform school walls into collaborative canvases. One piece — titled “Past Future” — honors Khmu tradition with a woman carrying her child. Another project invited every kid to paint a “fetish bird” flying toward the light. Students walked on bamboo stilts and played sport games together- and of course grabbed brushes as Martha documented small hands, bright colors, and the delight of making something permanent together.

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Folklore, Masks, and Mischief

Meeting the Royal Ballet mask-maker in Luang Prabang gave Seth a new spark. He adapted a demon mask from the Phra Lak Phra Ram — Laos’ own Ramayana — and painted it atop the crouched body of a local kid. Minutes later, a boy wearing the real mask squatted beside the mural, turning tradition into a living side-by-side remix. Martha’s photos catch a perfect squeeze between imagination and reality that defines Seth’s work.

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Martha also managed to document the alms-giving ritual at dawn that Seth participated in. Every morning, usually at dawn, Buddhist monks walk silently through the streets in a single line carrying bowls.

Laypeople — often sitting or kneeling — place food into the monks’ bowls. This food is usually prepared rice, fruit, or other simple offerings. In Laos, this ritual is widely observed. Laos is predominantly Theravada Buddhist, and alms-giving is a daily part of community life.

New Walls, Old Friends

This trip marks another chapter in Seth and Martha’s shared habit of chasing childhood imagination across the world — Kenya, Haiti… and now Laos. With support from curator and author Alisa Phommahaxay (Asian Street Art: Une Anthologie), who helped open doors to schools, families, and the children’s hospital, they kept everything relaxed and personal: art made with people, not just for them.

In dusty schoolyards and along the Mekong’s quiet edges, a camera and a paintbrush appear to be a splendid combination that brings people a little closer. Kids still invent games from whatever’s nearby — bamboo poles, bare feet, a splash of color — and Martha still recognizes that spark in an instant. Walls evolve, decades pass, but that simple creative heartbeat remains easy to find.

Martha Cooper / Seth. Laos. November 2025. (photo © Martha Cooper)