Opening tomorrow! "STRATA" PhotoBangkok Pop-up Exhibitions 2019 by PhotoBangkok in collaboration with 1PROJECTS

STRATA

PhotoBangkok Pop-up Exhibitions 2019

by PhotoBangkok in collaboration with 1PROJECTS

Curated by Nim Niyomsin

Artists

Charinthorn Rachurutchata (Thailand), Ekkarat Punyatara (Thailand), John Hulme (Scotland)

Luis del Amo (Spain), Naraphat Sakarthornsap (Thailand), Suzanne Moxhay (England) Tetsuya Kusu (Japan)

Exhibitions

I love Thailand by Charinthorn Rachurutchata & Naraphat Sakarthornsap (Thailand) Room 237, River City Bangkok

“What a wonderful world?” by John Hulme (Scotland) & Tetsuya Kusu (Japan) Room 240, River City Bangkok

Madrid in Black and White by Luis Del Amo (Spain) RCB Photographer's Gallery 2

Expanse by Suzanne Moxhay (England) RCB Photographer's Gallery 2

Interlude by Ekkarat Punyatara (Thailand) 1PROJECTS, Charoenkrung soi 28

Venues

RCB Photographer’s Gallery 2, Room 237 and 240, River City Bangkok and 1PROJECTS

Openings

Saturday 3 August 2019 at 6-9pm (1PROJECTS)

Saturday 17 August 2019 at 6-9pm (River City Bangkok)

Artists talk Saturday 17 August 2019 at 4:30-6pm (River City Bangkok), Register at 4pm

Exhibitions

3 August - 22 September, 2019 (1PROJECTS)

17 August - 29 September, 2019 (River City Bangkok)

Opening hours 

1PROJECTS: Saturday & Sunday 1pm-7pm, Monday - Friday by appointment only

RCB Photography's Gallery, River City Bangkok: Monday - Sunday 10.00 am - 10.00 pm 

Curatorial Concept

Immersed within this artistic formation are layers upon layers, running between reality and imagination, personal and historical context, objectivity and subjectivity, spatial and temporal stages. Photography has transformed from being simply a copy of nature into an artistic form, representing a creator’s aesthetic, cultural message and, frequently, social agenda.

Strata is this year’s pop-up exhibition project by PhotoBangkok, to reflect on contemporary social structure. In the current complex socio-political climate, nothing is as it seems. In this project, 7 artists, 5 exhibitions represent a wide variety of photographic genres and techniques, each with multifaceted elements and discourse, a diffusion of information and negotiation.

Representing the European stratum, Luis del Amo, Madrid in Black and White, gives us a glimpse into Madrid’s glamorous past through his black and white 35mm and medium format films from his time as a fashion photographer. Decades later, in Expanse, Suzanne Moxhay, while inspired by the tradition of matte painting techniques, opts for digital tools to manipulate and construct a staged environment that negotiates the boundary between outside and inside, allowing an expansion of spatial mentality and physicality.

I love Thailand presents the work of two talented emerging Thai artists, Naraphat Sakarthornsap and Charinthorn Rachurutchata, who show Thai society through their fresh, yet critical mindsets. Rachurutchata, with her traditional upbringing, examines the phrase ‘I love you Thailand’, a common phrase Thai students are asked to repeat mindlessly at school. While Sakarthornsap emphasizes the importance of what (or whom) is discarded and rejected by society. Seen through the simplicity of beautiful floral arrangements in an ordinarily places, his work is a reflection of a society’s impact upon an individual.

“What a wonderful world?” shows works by Tetsuya Kusu and John Hulme, presenting socioeconomic strata of the marginal in two countries, the United States and Thailand. With a sense of humor, Kusu’s work not only captures lives in the States, but is also an artist’s self-documentation and re-examination. While Hulme offers an honest account of the restricted life of migrant workers, documenting their professional and family life, revealing dignity and endurance under considerable hardship.

Ekkarat Punyatara shows another side of Bangkok in Interlude, a metropolis presented through its emptiness, with only a few remaining traces of actions and activities. He depicts the city at a time of rest, an interval in ongoing lives, encompassing those whose existence takes place within this urban space.

These artists present works that reflect on the complexity and layers of life from diverse realms and circumstances as a means of self-representation and open conversation. Nothing is neutral; all are politics of thought and action. What we see in front of us and what we ascertain, can be challenging and ambiguous.