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FEAR

FEAR is an ambitious showcase by one of Thailand’s leading photographers, consisting of ten new series and two video works across four galleries in Bangkok and Singapore.

Daily life in Thailand continues to unfold amidst protracted political problems. Military intervention has removed two governments in a decade and major recurring streets protests have brought to the fore critical questions of a malfunctioning democracy with corporate interest and corruption afflicting the electoral process. While this contemporary context is not entirely unprecedented in the history of Thailand’s fraught process of nation-building, the current moment is distinguished by a creeping sense that, indeed, there is little light ahead.

FEAR metaphorically addresses this darkening future of Manit’s home country, with no perception of an end in sight. The works were produced between Thailand’s last election in 2011 and the recent solar eclipse of March 9, 2016. In 2014 the reigning National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO) staged their coup d’etat. The iconography in FEAR includes cool but freighted references to the three pillars of the Thai nation - nation, religion and monarchy – and the depiction of crowds and queues. FEAR quietly suggests that in the current climate of all manner of signs and gestures become profoundly politicized, across the continuums of a fractured society. What once may have been celebrated or even treated with indifference has now become ominous as the people of Thailand continue to grapple with questions of Thailand’s future; where the nation is headed, and how.

Manit Sriwanichpoom was born and is based in Bangkok. His group exhibitions include the Centre Pompidou (Paris, 2010), The 6th Asia Pacific Triennial (Australia, 2009), Photoquai (Paris, 2007), Gwangju Biennale (Korea, 2006), the Venice Biennale (2003), Photo Espana (2001), the Hayward Gallery (UK, 1999) and Bienal de Sao Paulo (1998). His solo shows include Phenomena & Prophecies at the Singapore Art Museum (2010); Lambs of God at the Centre for Contemporary Photography (Melbourne, Australia, 2008); Bangkok in Pink at the Yokohama Museum of Art (2002) and Man in Pink at Galerie VU, Paris (2007). His works are in the collections of the Maison Europeenne de la Photographie (Paris), DG Bank (Germany), Fukuoka Asian Art Museum (Japan), Queensland Art Gallery (Australia), National Gallery of Australia, Koc Foundation (Turkey), Singapore Art Museum, National Gallery Singapore and many private collections. In 2002 he was selected as one of the world’s 100 most interesting emerging photographers by Phaidon Press in their book BLINK and again in 2014 with Phaidon Press’s Photography Today. In 2007 he was awarded the Higashikawa Overseas Photographer Prize from Japan and in 2014 the Chevalier des Arts et Lettres by the French Ministry of Culture & Communication.

Exhibition continues at H Gallery Bangkok until October 2, 2016 

 

FEAR - New Photographs and Video by Manit Sriwanichpoom
Kathmandu Photo Gallery.H GALLERY BANGKOK. Tang Contemporary art
July 23 – September 10 2016