Three years ago, Manit Sriwanichpoom's "Forgotten Thai Masters Of Photography" exhibition was one of the most anticipated and intriguing shows of "Photo Bangkok 2015". In fact, the photographer and curator had unearthed seven master Thai photographers of the past several decades, nearly forgotten and lost through time, and revived them for contemporary viewers through several shows at his Kathmandu Photo Gallery since early 2010s.
S.H. Lim.
Exhibiting hundreds of images dating as far back as 1932, the photographs provided a diverse and fascinating ethnographic survey of Thai life. Displayed were damaged but charming black-and-white photographs of Buddhist monks by Buddhadasa Bhikkhu; shots of everyday life in Bangkok and Phuket by Rong Wong-Savun and Saengjun Limlohakul; eye-opening and quirky studio images by S.H Lim, Pornsak Sakdaenprai and Liang Ewe; and to the surprise of many viewers, stunning nude photographs by ML Toy Xoomsai. All the photographers, except Pornsak and S.H. Lim, are no longer alive.
Hoping to create a dialogue about Southeast Asia's shared history, Forgotten Thai Masters Of Photography will be travelling to the NUS Museum in Singapore tomorrow for its second iteration. Some 247 remastered prints by the seven photographers -- who were never recognised and included in Thai official archives -- will be on display for one full semester with talks and seminars in between.
Manit talks to Life about his project and his hopes for its future.
How did this project start?
The idea started when I was teaching photography. A problem came up when I was teaching: I only cited foreigners, and I felt, 'Why aren't there any Thai photographers?'. I tried to encourage other professors to do it, but no one did, so I decided to do it myself. I started the project one day when I found an exhibition by S.H Lim who was exhibiting next to mine. I asked why have I never met this photographer before? Why haven't I seen his works before? So I decided to start with him. That was in 2010.
Why did you specifically choose to find photographers from the 30s to the 70s?
From what I've noticed, there have been compilations of early photographs of Thailand. For example, Anek Nawikamoon studied photographs from King Rama IV [1850s] to Rama VII [1930s]. This is an important study. However for me, I asked, 'What about the time before now?'. There's a big gap. I pinned down the time frame to 1932, which was the year of the Siamese Revolution. If Anek Nawikamoon researched till Rama VII, I'll research back to where he left off in order to see who did what in what era.
At the same time I chose 1932 because I was interested in whether the photographs had any sense or realisation of democracy. When you have democracy, it means you have rights. And when you have rights, you have your individuality. So, on one side, when people started to feel their own individualism, I wanted to see if people used photography to express this individuality.
Rong Wong-Savan.
Which photographer was most interesting to you?
If you look back at the signs that show that people were aware of their own individuality, we'll have to look at the Phuket photographer, Liang Ewe. He opened his photo studio in 1932 and he left over 100,000 negatives after he passed away.
You can see that people really placed importance in taking photographs in the 50s. Newborns were photographed, deceased people were photographed. As Thais don't have a culture of recording history, it shows that photography came in to record family history. There might be no written history, but there is a visual history that we can still see.
Why did you decide to bring this exhibition to Singapore?
I'm going to Singapore because I'm trying to create a dialogue within the region. I did this in order to exchange knowledge and maybe give inspiration towards neighbouring countries to do this as well. They'll be able to compare it with their own photographers on what society was like back then. It will be able to create a shared visual history.
Liang Ewe.
Singapore is very interested in the history of SEA as a whole as well.
Yes. And this opens up a point of view that when you look at a photograph, it's not only in the artistic perspective, but there are other values as well like social dimensions, culture and politics.
If you ask salon photographers they would say that S.H Lim's photography isn't art. The definition of art in each era isn't the same. For me, I see it as a work of art, because it has value in beauty and it impacts society. It's about imagination and reflecting that period of time.
Will there be another exhibition in Thailand?
From now on I'm going to try to create more dialogue abroad. I want to create a trend abroad for Thais to realise that these photographers have value. It's like if these photographers don't get a stamp of approval from foreigners, then there's no value.
Are you still searching for forgotten photographers?
There are some, but I have to do more research as it goes far back. What I've found dates back to the late reign of King Rama V and the early reign of King Rama VI, and nobody has ever talked about it before.
Because I found these photographers, their works won't be thrown away. They're being shown in galleries, and later on they're going to be collected in museums.
Rediscovering Forgotten Thai Masters Of Photography: A Project By Manit Sriwanichpoom
NUS Museum, Singapore
From tomorrow until May
Free admission
