People Space

Tuesday, July 8, 2008

From the Wild to Paris
A shared path of two photographers

People Space is a new gallery located in the heart of the old town of Bangkok. Until present, we have organized two exhibitions: Paper by Wisut Ponnimit and Mind’s Eye: Collections of Hand-Coloured Black and White Photographs by Chaipong Kittinaradorn.

Our coming exhibition, From the Wild to Paris, will open on this Saturday 12 July. The exhibition covers photographic works of two photographers, M.L. Prinyakorn Voravan and Supachai Ketkaroonkul. Despite disparity in contents, they both share the same path of documentary photography.

Using different kinds of lens and telling different stories, they both have the same kind of heart - the one that is eager to learn and understand our world.

Talking about wild life photography, M.L. Prinyakorn Voravan is one among those very few who dedicate their life for it. He has been in the wilderness taking those pictures of wild animals and their nature home for more than 20 years. Although he is a descendant of hunters, unlike his ancestors, his only weapon is a camera and not a rifle. His philosophy has changed from hunting to storytelling.

Still, despite long period of working, M.L Prinyakorn has never exhibited his work anywhere (in Thailand). At most, he has a picture book called Spirit of the Jungle published many years ago.

The other photographer is Supachai Ketkaroonkul. He graduated from the Faculty of Liberal Arts majoring in Film from Thammasat University. His black-and-white portraits are important parts for Open Magazine in its beginning phrase. The beauty he conveys through his lens is raw but not savage. It is documentary reality coated with poetic tenderness.

Supachai left Bangkok for Paris years ago to further his master education. When finished, he flied back home and still works as a photographer.

It is true that the story of Paris has been told over and over again for it is never a forgotten or unnoticed city. But once more, we will see Paris, in many different views, through the eyes of a Thai photographer who fell in love and lived with her for 6 years.

From the Wild to Paris aims to represent never-ending stories of both the wilderness and the city, two things that seem to be far apart but in fact tightly relate to one another. In the wild, there is life not different from in the city and as nature keeps balance for all life, what happens in the wild will eventually reach the city. This is why we have to travel so far From the Wild to Paris to learn from nature and understand more of our existence.

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From the Wild to Paris
On view from 12 July – 17 August 2008

Venue: People Space
116 Phraeng Phuton Road, San Chaopor Suea, Phranakorn, Bangkok 10200
Open Hours: Only on Saturday and Sunday (11 am - 7 pm)
(By appointment if besides Saturday and Sunday)

Opening Party: 12 July 2008 (8 pm onwards)

- Wild life slide show from M.L. Prinyakorn Voravan with live music from Manoch Puttan

- Artists’ Talk: Pinyo Trisuriyatamma will talk with our artists, M.L. Parinyakorn Worawan and Supachai Ketkaroonkul.

For more information:
Tel. 081 5491002
Email: people.space@yahoo.com
www.people-space.blogspot.com

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Sarinee Achavanuntakul + Angkrit Ajchariyasophon

Sarinee Achavanuntakul

A financier by training, Sarinee Achavanuntakul is currently a writer and independent academic who tries to regularly publicize new developments in social enterprises and "humane capitalism" via her personal blog at http://www.fringer.org and various publications including http://www.onopen.com and Prachachat Turakij newspaper. She also teaches an undergraduate course called "Business and Society" every year as adjunct professor at Thammasat University's Faculty of Commerce and Accountancy.

As independent academic, Sarinee has written a number of academic papers covering issues in the Thai capital markets, including "Capital Allocation in Thai Economy under Globalization" (with professor Kittichai Sae-lee) for Thammasat University, and "The Use of Nominees in the Stock Exchange of Thailand" for Thailand Development Research Institute (TDRI). Sarinee's final position in her former career as investment banker was Executive Director at Hunters Advisory, a boutique local financial advisory firm. Prior to that role, between 2003 and 2006, she worked in Corporate Finance and Corporate Strategy departments at SCB Securities Co. Ltd., a local investment bank. Prior to joining SCB Securities, she worked as investment banker in Financial Institutions Group, Deutsche Bank AG Hong Kong Branch.

She holds an MBA in finance from Leonard Stern School of Business at New York University, and a BA in economics from Harvard University.

Angkrit Ajchariyasophon

Angkrit Ajchariyasophon is a visual artist. He graduated from the Faculty of Fine Arts, Chiang Mai University. After graduation, he decided to go to Europe and stay there for six months in the hopes that he would be modernized and westernized. However, it did not work out as he planned (he thought that it must be because of his yellow skin).

Disappointed, he headed back to his hometown. Nonetheless, he remained excited to see foreigners do yoga or meditation; subsequently, he made an effort once more to become a perfect English gentleman.

He now lives in Chiang Rai and owns a Chinese restaurant. He still studies English from fairy tales he reads his son, wishing that one day he would eventually become a true Westerner in both body and soul, so that he could become and ordained Western monk who practices yoga and meditation full-time in the last years of his life.

Chananun Chotrungroj

Supachai Ketkaroonkul

Chaipong Kittinaradorn

Chaipong Kittinaradorn graduated from the Faculty of Law, Thammasat University. He began his career at the International Red Cross and later switched to private businesses. He is now operating an apartment business in Bangkok.

Despite changes in his professions, photography remains his steady “amateur” work. Starting with colour negatives, he later moved to slide film and eventually was drawn to black and white photography. To fulfil his imaginary vision, he started to add colours onto black and white photographs. Now he is heading the budding hand-coloured black and white photography movement in Thailand.

Chaipong also taught photography at Sripatum University and exhibited hand-coloured black and white photographs at Viengtavern Gallery in Bangkok as well as many universities in the south of Thailand. He co-founded Black and White Rhapsodies Group (www.bwfoto.net) and recently photographed for Integral Buddha: The Life of Buddhasa Bhikku written by Suvinai Pornavalai which tells a story of Buddhasa Bhikku – a highly revered Buddhist monk whose zen-like teaching is admired and followed by wide audience.

His wife, Kasama, is a Thai medical doctor and handicraft exporter. His elder son, Chitpong, is a technology-oriented social developer working with the Thai Rural Net Insititute (TRN) and Thai Health Promotion Foundation. Rakpong, the youngest son, is an International Astronomy Olympiad winner and is now studying physics at Mahidol University in Bangkok. The family members meet up every week to share their stories, lives and passion.

Contact the artist at: chaipong.k@gmail.com

Wisut Ponnimit

Wisut Ponnimit is a "manga artist," a label so unusual and unique in Thailand that it has made him one of the most extraordinary icons of his generation. hesheit, the title of the manga series that brought attention to Wisutwas published monthly in a day magazine for over 5 years. Some have called his manga "arty" and "philosophical" because of its often radical and profound contents.

Wisut went to Japan in 2003 in order to learn more about manga in the environment where manga was created. His works caught the attention of the Japanese audience in less than three months and within about one year Wisut, at the age of 28, became the first Thai manga artist ever to have his work published and distributed in Japan by a Japanese publisher. The book is called Everybodyeverything, a collection of short comics originally published in Thai publications. Everybodyeverything is also published in Thailand by Typhoon Books. Since then he has been a regular Typhoon Books writer.

Banana Yoshitomo, the internationally acclaimed Japanese author said this about Wisut’s work: "I think (Wisut’s) beautiful spiritscan offer warmth to the exhausted minds of Japan."

He is working on more books, animations, and installations. His big goal is to make a feature length anime.

Visit: http://web.mac.com/wisut/wisut/main.html
Check out Wisut-designed products: http://www.tamaribathai.com/

Many thanks to Typhoon for the biography :-)