ART SCENE
87 Pan Road, near the Indian temple, Silom Saturday- February 26 Call 02-234-6700
"Not pornographic, man, they're nudes." Thus would Mom Luang Toy Xoomsai defend himself when faced with criticism in the prudish days of Field Marshal P. Pibulsongkram's nationalist government which strived to micro-manage the lives and minds of Thai people over every issue from prim and proper conduct to the waging of expansionist war upon a neighbouring country. In such a context, ML Toy's nudes are much more than pictures of naked models; they are acts of defiance against the power of the fascist state and its imposed social order. They reflect the artist's courage to publicly explore the beauty of Thai women, the models' confidence in their bodies, and Thai male fantasies concerning the opposite sex.
Kathmandu Photo Gallery presents ML Toy Xoomsai's nude photography, produced between 1946 - 1961, in the form of 30 original prints, unexhibited since his death in 1961, as part of the gallery's "Seeking Forgotten Thai Photographers" project to honour artists hitherto unrecorded in the annals of Thai photography.
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