{"id":8606,"date":"2022-02-07T16:18:55","date_gmt":"2022-02-07T09:18:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.kathmanduphotobkk.com\/?p=8606"},"modified":"2024-02-21T15:15:42","modified_gmt":"2024-02-21T08:15:42","slug":"present-past-gazes-on-the-present","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.kathmanduphotobkk.com\/?p=8606","title":{"rendered":"Past gazes on the present"},"content":{"rendered":"

Kathmandu Photo Galleryproudly presents<\/p>\n

Past gazes on the present<\/i><\/b><\/h1>\n

A photographic exhibition by<\/p>\n

Manit Sriwanichpoom<\/b><\/p>\n

5 February \u2013 25 March 2022<\/p>\n

.<\/p>\n

One of Manit Sriwanichpoom\u2019s<\/i> greatest abilities, when he explores the pioneer work of his elders, is to preserve a sense of wonder and to consider that nothing is ever completely lost. <\/span><\/p>\n

While in the 2010s he started working on his curatorial project \u2018Seeking Forgotten Thai Photographers\u2019, he travelled a long way to meet Pornsak Sakdaenprai<\/i> in the province of Nakhon Ratchasima. The late photographer had kept in his studio glass negatives of great patrimonial value. Made in the 1960s, they chiefly depict portraits of rural people dressed up as glamourous Luk Thung<\/i> Thai country music stars. <\/span><\/p>\n

Regrettably, humidity and moisture left their mark over time and many of these negatives were irreversibly stuck together. Undeterred, Manit saw in this unfortunate event an alternative path to explore: he sought to revive the existing negatives and, by means of a subtle layering, he created a gripping imagery unfolding a new perspective. The result is bewitching and invites us to sense the spectral presence of men and women once strangers to one another and now brought together.  <\/span><\/p>\n

\u2018Past gazes on the present\u2019<\/i><\/b> is like a palimpsest which reveals itself in a thread of overlapped meanings. The series as a whole offers to our gaze a projection surface that mobilises our fantasies. Thanks to his ability to transform accidents into opportunities, Manit sets up, in the most organic way, a fruitful amalgam that transcends time and identity. Who is who in the portraits we view? Is it her gaze or his? Is he a monk or a dandy? In the end, aren\u2019t we all plural beings? The more we look at these enigmatic faces, the more they seem familiar yet inherently inscrutable.  <\/span><\/p>\n

— Didier Mayhew<\/i><\/p>\n

Photo-artist Manit Sriwanichpoom<\/b> 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\u2019s important museum and private collections. <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\t