Exhibitions

‘Lost’ : A photographic exhibition by Manit Sriwanichpoom − Kathmandu Photo Gallery

Thai

Kathmandu Photo Gallery

Jul 11 - Sep 26, 2020

All images by Courtesy of Kathmandu Photo Gallery

This photographic series was born from an accidental error during an attempt to scan and digitize old glass negatives from 1964 – 1968 taken by Liang Ewe (1911 – 1992), photographer & owner of a photographic studio in Phuket, Thailand. Ideally, the modern digital scanner would accurately transfer historical data from the analog to the digital format; we honestly believe that the resulting data would be correct & match exactly the original source. In reality, the digital format can be corrupted, distorted & manipulated at any stage of the process: scanning, transferring, transmitting, viewing & printing. Sudden gaps of information in the image files occurred at random on Liang Ewe’s portraits, neglecting to convey certain bodily parts: the eyes, the mouth and sometimes the whole face is missing, creating the sense that bits of these people are trapped on another dimension of space and time. Like images from a horror movie, a face without a mouth has no eyes to gaze out from, another face has eyes but no mouth with which to utter a sound.

Ironically, although we can obtain perfect digitally-scanned images of them, we’ll never know the identities and the tales of the people in the photographs, since the studio manager never kept records of his sitters: their names, their ages, where they’re from and what they did. They were just customers. We know what they look like but the faces are unnamed.

In a country like Thailand, history is of kings and rulers of men. We tend not to promote or encourage the writing of the history of commoners, as if their stories are meaningless & worthless to remember.  The discovery of Liang Ewe’s negatives is the rediscovery of a past that has survived imbued within 2-dimensional glass plates. In the 19th century when photography was invented, some viewed it with the superstitious fear that their soul would be stolen, lost, trapped by the camera within the frame of the photograph forever. The series ‘Lost’ (2015) confirms that what photography records becomes the past the instant the camera shutters close. We still know nothing about these people, lost in the digital twilight zone.

Photo-artist Manit Sriwanichpoom has been creating and exhibiting work of Thai contemporary art for over 30 years. His work has been widely exhibited both in Thailand and internationally, forming part of many of the world’s important museum and private collections.

Artist's Profile:

Manit Sriwanichpoom (b 1961) is one of Thailand’s leading photo artists, and the best known in the international art world, having exhibited worldwide including in the Kasseler Kunstverein (Germany, 2018), Saatchi Gallery (London, 2015), RAY Fotografieprojekte (Frankfurt, 2012), the Centre Pompidou (Paris, 2010), the Asia Pacific Triennial (Australia, 2009), Photoquai (Paris, 2007), Gwangju Biennale (Korea, 2006) and the Venice Biennale (2003). His works are collected by important museums including in the Maison Europeenne de la Photographie (Paris), DZ Bank (Germany), Asian Art Museum of San Francisco (USA), Smith College Museum of Art (USA), Fukuoka Asian Art Museum (Japan), Queensland Art Gallery (Australia), National Gallery of Australia, National Gallery Singapore, Singapore Art Museum and well known private collectors. In 2007 he was awarded the Higashikawa Overseas Photographer Prize from Japan and 2014 the Chevalier des Arts et Lettres by French Ministry of Culture. 

Information

'Lost' : A photographic exhibition by Manit Sriwanichpoom

開催期間
11 July – 26 September 2020
会 場
Kathmandu Photo Gallery
87 Pan road (near Indian Temple), Silom, Bangkok 10500
電 話
02-234-6700
営業時間
Open daily except Sunday and Monday, from 11 AM to 6 PM 
URL
http://www.kathmanduphotobkk.com

Editor: Aura Contemporary Art Foundation