The Instagram age has made it difficult for photography to assert itself. A beautiful shot is not necessarily enough to capture the imagination of an audience used to a daily deluge of sepia. Those photography exhibits that manage to break through the noise do so by paying special attention to their concept and composition. Lillian Suwanrumpha, the photographer behind I AM BANGKOK, a small show of Bangkokian portraits at Rooftop Gallery, has approached these decisions with care and consideration.
Her portraits capture a racially diverse range of subjects through tightly framed and simply lit studio shots. The large-scale prints capture the myriad idiosyncracies of the human face – the delightful lopsidedness of a boy whose crooked smile allows for the protruberance of but one tooth, the random patterning of a series of pock marks that stretch in a constellation like across a girl’s cheek. These portraits serve as a reminder that, while technical approaches to beauty emphasise the importance of symmetry, the beauty of human existence is underpinned by imperfection.
It is a shame that the sitters were (presumably) all asked to smile. Part of the pleasure of portrait photography is the ability to build a narrative around the subjects. In this case, that narrative was limited to, “Well, isn’t everyone remarkably chipper?”
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According to Suwanrumpha’s artist’s statement, what connects the various sitters is that, when asked if they were “one of Bangkok’s very own,” they all replied, “Yes, I am”.
“A lack of common dialogue, agendas or simply the size of the city’s sprawl may be the cause for several faces in this room to never meet outside of this space – yet with their individual stories condensed to the features they are born with (or grew into), together they represent the diversity of its people and hints at a hopeful reconciliation of Bangkok’s societies,” her statement reads.
This infectiously positive concept smacks of the influence of Yoko Ono, who has argued that by providing audiences with a positive message (in Ono’s case, by writing the word “Yes” on a gallery ceiling) it is possible to shift methods of thinking in a more positive direction. Ono maintaints that such instances cause ripple effects that go on to promote peace in the wider world.
This is a commendable approach, but whether Suwanrumpha has made the right stylistic choices to achieve her aim, will largely depend on the individual viewer’s perspective.
For some, the fact that the sitters have been captured in a neutral studio setting will resonate with their personal belief that, underneath it all, we are all the same, and all equally valid by dint of our common humanity.
For others, though, who place greater ideological weight on unpacking the power dimensions that create social division, Suwanrumpha’s approach will seem like an attempt to whitewash Bangkok’s inequalities. Individual perspectives, however, are less important than the fact that the artist has engaged the conversation in the first place.
FIND IT:
I AM BANGKOK
Rooftop Gallery, 440/10 Sukhumvit 55 (Thong Lor, between soi 14 and 16)
Through July 31
