{"id":8669,"date":"2022-06-24T16:26:03","date_gmt":"2022-06-24T09:26:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.kathmanduphotobkk.com\/?p=8669"},"modified":"2024-02-21T15:15:17","modified_gmt":"2024-02-21T08:15:17","slug":"future-poor-mans-binoculars","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.kathmanduphotobkk.com\/?p=8669","title":{"rendered":"Poor Man\u2019s Binoculars"},"content":{"rendered":"

Kathmandu Photo Gallery<\/p>\n

proudly presents<\/p>\n

.<\/p>\n

Poor Man\u2019s Binoculars<\/b><\/h1>\n

A Photographic Exhibition by<\/p>\n

Artyt Lerdrakmongkol<\/i><\/p>\n

2 July \u2013 22 October 2022<\/p>\n

[Opening reception on Sat 2 Jul, 6.30 \u2013 9.00 pm.]<\/i><\/p>\n

.<\/p>\n

A photograph is a memory. This saying is confirmed by \u2018Poor Man\u2019s Binoculars\u2019, the photographic series by well-known Thai street photographer Artyt Lerdrakmongkol<\/b>.<\/p>\n

Out of sheer curiosity, Artyt spent every Sunday for a year, from 2017 \u2013 2018 at the Nang Lerng racetrack, home of The Royal Turf Club of Thailand under Royal Patronage to see what people actually did there. The result is a series divided into 3 chapters: Getting Ready, Run, and Final, revealing the life cycle of the middle and lower classes of horse-racing fans who love to bet on the sport of kings and the upper class, a culture imported into Siam just over a hundred years ago, during the reign of Rama V.<\/p>\n

Artyt describes his sense of dislocation: \u201cWhen I was in there, a cosmopolitan urbanites like us become the out of place stranger. It has its own charms, the charms of people who have nothing left to lose, and all they can do is gamble away their lives.\u201d<\/p>\n

These quickly stolen candid photographs were shot on colour film, giving the series the air of an old personal album; the faded colours, the lack of brightness, the melancholy, all contribute to the feel of a time capsule from 40 \u2013 50 years ago. The punters, the fans cheering on the horses are mostly middle-age and elderly men with white hair and beard. Each one carries a pair of binoculars and a race form, in quest of a glimpse of hope and luck of the day.<\/p>\n

These images have become the relic of a forgotten past, now that Nang Lerng Racecourse itself has vanished, soon to make way for a public park to honour King Rama 9. So where have the people in the photographs moved on to?<\/p>\n

Artyt Lerdrakmongkol<\/b> (b. 1980) has a bachelor\u2019s degree from Bangkok University. Despite his fame as a street photographer, he prefers to call himself a storyteller. Artyt also runs the art space \u2018Husband and Wife\u2019 and creates an arts programme on the \u2018Wolf in Sheep\u2019 YouTube channel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\t