Beyond Thailand, a diversity of photo art thrives throughout Southeast Asia, as surveyed by “Pause,” a perky show at BACC featuring 15 regional artists, curated by Ark Fongsmut. For her “Freedom from Fear” series (2014), MAY CO NAING shot expressive portraits of fellow Myanmar youth in the period after the nation’s recent trend toward openness had begun to reverse. All photos in this article are courtesy of Photo Bangkok.
NAZARUDDIN ABDUL HAMED’s “Architectural Series” (2012) explores the somber interiors of Malaysia’s Pudu Prison,
the 19th-century facility that was demolished in 2012 despite the objection of local conservationists. Previously, the
prison’s gallows had stood near the modern high-rise buildings of Kuala Lumpur.
In his “Thundersaurs” series, JED ESCUETA of the Philippines explores imagery reflecting the maelstrom of contemporary life around him, juxtaposing prints with mini-sculptures of dinosaur fossils.
One of two main events of the festival was “Rediscovering Forgotten Thai Masters of Photography,”
hosted by Bangkok University Gallery, in which photographer-curator MANIT SRIWANICHPOOM
reprised seven shows that explored unheralded local lensmen. For example, SH Lim, born in 1930,
did fashion shoots of actresses and models for magazines, such as this mod, 1967 image of
Phusadee Anukkhamontri.
Among Manit’s remarkable finds were images by radical monk Buddhadasa
Bhikkhu (1906–1993), created using double exposure and other techniques
to illustrate his influential books of Buddhist verse homilies.
With its unrivalled street life, Bangkok has sprouted a project named Street Photo Thailand. Twelve of its members were
featured in “Subconscious,” displayed in the rotunda of the BACC.
Thai street photographers like SIRIMA CHAIPREECHAWIT have been increasingly venturing abroad. She recently captured a decisive urban moment in Japan.
An untitled image by JES AZNAR was among the documentary work on display exploring facets of spirituality in the Philippines, which was the focus
of a show called “Pananampalataya (Faith),” curated by Manila’s Asian Eye Gallery and presented at Bangkok’s Cho Why.
CHO WHY is one of the lively galleries and art-showing pubs that have recently popped up in refurbished vintage
shop-houses around Soi Nana in the Yaowarat district, which is Bangkok’s Chinatown.
Works by Taiwan’s pioneering photographer KO SI-CHI, born in 1929, featured in a solo show titled “Wu Jin” at Adler Subhasok Gallery. Pictured here is Ko Si-Chi’s Presence of Venus (1979).
Kathmandu Photo Gallery hosted the first solo show of Thai street photographer
AKKARA NAKTAMNA, entitled “Signs,” featuring uncanny images of everyday
phenomena and objects suffused with portent.
“Weatherproof,” at WTF Gallery, showcased six Thai photographers portraying efforts to overcome the effects of natural disasters. In one piece from a series
about Thailand’s catastrophic floods, entitled “Going Home” (2011), WITHIT CHANTHAMARIT recorded an upstairs bedroom cluttered with goods rescued
from a ground-floor kitchen.
In a show organized by the Japan Foundation, Bangkok, and presented at the Cloud Gallery titled “Contour,” Thai lensman TAWATCHAI PATTANAPORN
explored the tsunami-ravaged landscape of Japan’s Iwate Prefecture, while the area was being transformed by renewal projects, in images captured on
analog film and printed in his own darkroom.
