ONLY FOR “THE DEAD ON DUTY?”

ONLY FOR “THE DEAD ON DUTY?”

by Naraphat Sakarthornsap

Naraphat Sakarthornsap’s new series is an expansion of his previous work, where the artist used photographs of hibiscus flowers around various districts of Bangkok to represent gender discrimination within Thai society.

In this exhibition, Sakarthornsap still focuses on revealing the discrimination and inequality amongst human beings, but in the different setting of military compounds, where this issue sometimes results in casualties. The artist researched and explored these incidents through news footage from newspapers and other media. He then created a photographic set of floral arrangements designed to resemble real funeral decorations. Sakarthornsap hopes to preserve the memory of those who have lost their lives and to make sure that their death won’t be lost and forgotten. He deeply wishes that with this set of photography there might be hope for a change toward a better society.

About the Artist:

Naraphat Sakarthornsap (b. 1991, Bangkok, Thailand) Lives and works in Bangkok. In many of his works, Naraphat Sakarthornsap presents stories of inequality in the society through photography, in which flowers play the leading roles. Another important elements in his exhibitions is the name label of each photograph and the little details in his works that are intentionally connected. It could also be certain messages that could not be explicitly spoken under the pressure of the society.

Many kinds of flowers that Naraphat uses usually comes with profound meanings. Those flowers have become the keys to finding the answers that are neatly hidden in the works of art. And sometimes the photographs of these delicate flowers of Naraphat may possibly come from the deepest part of his devastated heart.

Naraphat’s early works presented the challenge against nature in trying to prolong the freshness of the flower before he develops the ideas to become the challenge against power and influence in the society through the pictures of these flowers.