Exhibitions
Gallery VER
Sep 12 - Oct 24, 2020
All images by Courtesy of Gallery VER
“Recognize” what the world refuses to. Assess, discern, and categorize, in the details that go overlooked.
A single photograph contains not just the photographer’s memories, and is not the absolute memory that holds the privilege of telling the truth. That is not even taking into account the subject of the photograph, who may not have shared in the memory captured by the photographer. The person behind and in front of the lenses may recount the events in the same photograph in completely divergent ways. As such, the notion of photographs as ‘records of memory’ cannot encompass the entire depth of meaning of the word ‘memory’, which can spill out and multiply, belonging to no one individual in full.
Not only impacted by the subject, or component within Viriya’s photos, but is also the texture of things that resists scrutiny, or to tease someone towards wanting to continue deeper until they pierce through other side. The photo of water, with its many little phenomena that serve to accommodate the eyes, propping it up to be concentrated on, like a point of stillness. Viriya distills both meanings of picking and choosing certain facts, while blocking the breakthrough to issues in society, in an unequivocal manner. The audience may request a certain level of consciousness of society, politics, culture, environment, etc. from the photo, while the photographer’s portfolio is an amalgamation of various elements that may not be related to anyone else’s, or could be assimilated into everyone.
Often times, audiences will only be aware of the effect of things, more than the indicative data, such as what, when, or where (even though these questions still persist within the image), and the influence or emotional significance that shines from Viriya’s perspectives.
“Beau, Simple, Mystérieux” : the three words that a French critic used to evaluate one of Viriya’s collections. The same sentiments still extend toward the present works through his practice, which preserves “attending to the world, and the intricate ways of life that exist within this world that still holds certain mysteries”. The world in Viriya’s photographs isn’t extravagant or trying to stimulate viewers towards awareness of ostentatious subjects, but is a world of stillness, isolation, almost completely silent and still. The world of details and residue that presents itself as a thin layer, ready to accept any emotional impact, while resisting the memory of society and the world that continues to simmer, from a perspective of environment and politics.
