Ekkarat Punyatara (b. 1985) Graduated from Rajamangala University of Technology Krungthep, Bangkok, Thailand. Ekkarat was born in Bangkok and is currently photo editor and photographer at National Geographic Thailand. His photography is inspired by his fascination in Thai culture that he was raised in during his childhood in his conservative family. Ekkarat wants to raise awareness of social issues. He first gained recognition for his photography in 2011 through the controversial project “It’s Personal” which questions the traditional conservative ways of seeing Buddhism in Thailand. The project was a year-long documentary following the lives of a group of Thai monks in New York City, USA. His works have been published and shown internationally with Smithsonian, burn magazine (USA), Emaho magazine (India), Invisible Photographer Asia (IPA) (Singapore), South China Post (China), Angkor Photo Festival (Cambodia), and many others. Ekkarat won numerable international photography awards including the Moscow International Photography Awards, Street Foto San Francisco (2nd), among others. In addition, Ekkarat has had solo exhibitions at Kathmandu Gallery, VS Gallery and Fujiflim XSpace BKK in Bangkok, Thailand. He participated in the PhotoBangkok 2019 with 1PROJECTS in 2019 and in the ‘Asian Photography Night’ FOTOFESTIWAL in Niebostan, Poland.
Education
2008 Rajamangala University of Technology Krungthep, Bangkok, Thailand
Solo Exhibitions
2023 ‘CLOSURE’, VS Gallery, Bangkok, Thailand
2020 ‘Together’, Fujifilm X-Space, Bangkok, Thailand
2015 'It’s personal', Wat Pha Ban Koh Temple, Udon Thani, Thailand
2013 'It’s personal', Kathmandu Gallery, Bangkok, Thailand
Selected Group Exhibitions
2022 ‘Sustainability through the lens’ Volvo Cars Thailand, Bangkok, Thailand
2021 ‘Black day’ PhotoBangkok Night wish discussions, Hong Kong International Photo Festival,
Hong Kong
2021 ’SELFPRESSION | The Representation of 100 Photographers' Identity’, HOP-Hub Of
Photography, Bangkok, Thailand
2020 'X-Photographer', Fujifilm X-Space BKK, Bangkok, Thailand
2019 ‘Black day’, MOPLA Photo Book Exhibition, USA
‘Strata’, PhotoBangkok, 1PROJECTS Gallery, Bangkok, Thailand
2015 ‘Asian Photography Night’ FOTOFESTIWAL, Niebostan, Poland
2013 ‘It’s Personal’, The Chiang Mai Documentary Arts Festival, Chiang Mai, Thailand
‘Screening’, Angkor Photo Festival, Siem Reap, Cambodia
‘Night Shift', Rooftop Gallery, Thailand
Photo book and Publishing
2021 Publishing, ‘Celebration World Photography Day’ National Geographic, USA
Publishing ‘black day’, CTypeMag, Thailand
2020 Publishing ‘9 Photography Instagram accounts that capture the different sides of Asia,
#legend, Hong Kong
2018 Launching ‘black day’ photo book, Open House, Thailand
2016 Publishing ‘Till I bloom’ UNAIDS, Thailand
2013 Publishing 'It’s personal', Emaho Magazine online, India
2011 Publishing 'It’s personal', Burn Magazine online, USA
2010 Publishing 'The lost of Lanna culture', National Geographic Thailand
2008 Publishing, Sakai Tribal, National Geographic Thailand
Prize
2019 Selected as one of 30 best photo books ‘black day’, Month of Photography, USA
Winner (Gold in Editorial/Political) ‘black day', Moscow International Foto Awards, Russia
2018 2nd winner ‘black day', Streetfoto San Francisco, USA
Selected as one of 25 Southeast Asian Photographers, Olympus Visionary, South Africa
2014 Selected as one of 20 Instagrams from Asia to follow, Invisible Photographer Asia,
Singapore
2013 Award winner, 180 years relationship American & Thai Embassy photo contest, Thailand
Workshop scholarship, Angkor Photo Festival, Cambodia
2012 Selected for workshop scholarship, Foundry photography workshop, Thailand
