As Japan marked the fifth anniversary last Friday of the devastating Tohuku earthquake – which with the tsunami it triggered left 18,500 people dead or missing – the Bangkok art community paused to reflect at the opening of the exhibition “Contour”.

The show, continuing into next month at the Numthong Gallery, is the fruit of Angkrit Ajchariyasophon and Tawatchai Pattanaporn’s residency at Rikuzentakata in Japan, which had the support of the Japan Foundation’s Thai office.

That town, whose current population is just 20,000, was “wiped off the map” by the tsunami.

The “contour” of the exhibition’s title refers to both the geological vectors on a map and the rough outline an artist makes to set the scale for an undertaking.

Just as important in the context of the exhibition, Angkrit, in his abstract paintings, and Tawatchai, in his photographs, map out “spiritual” contours that echo a landscape – of geography and of the soul – that was irrevocably changed by the 2011 disaster.

Angkrit, 45 and based in Chiang Rai, spent his time in Rikuzentakata last year working with local counterparts on a project called “1000 Rainbows”, which had at its core a message of hope for those who’d lost so much in the catastrophe.

Back home, he noted the way colours has been commandeered to represent political ideals and turned in the opposite direction. His next set of abstracts was inspired, he says, by Russian Kazimir Malevich painting “White on White”, but there were also the rainbow hues of American Ellsworth Kelly’s “Spectrum V”.

Angkrit says his intent was to record incidents and changes occurring in Thailand during that crucial time.

Tawatchai’s images from Rikuzentakata similarly record changes, in this case the stirring transformation from utter ruin and abandonment to rebuilding and resettlement. He first visited the town in 2012, not long after the earthquake and tsunami, and then returned in 2014 for his residence and again last year, marvelling at its rebirth.

His photos show how nature supplied the materials for reconstruction, from the surrounding forests and mountains.

On his second and third visits Thawatchai “felt like a stranger”, having to familiarise himself with all the sights again. Even the people who’d lived there a long time would probably feel the same, he suspected. In his pictures he’s attempted to reconstruct his memories – and theirs.

Some of the photos from this series were exhibited at Cloud Space last September, as part of the Photo Bangkok Festival. At least that much might be familiar.

HORROR AND HOPE

– “Contours” runs until April 9 at the Numthong Gallery, 72/3 Soi Aree 5 North, off Phahonyothin Road (BTS Aree, Exit 3).

– For details, call (02) 617 2794 or check http://www.Facebook.com/NumthongGalleryAtAree.