Bangkok in Technicolor by Manit Sriwanichpoom - book review: Images reflecting the culture clash between old and new

Manit’s work is always insightful and provocative

Manit’s work is always insightful and provocative (Siam Paragon 2008 )

Fifteen years after Bangkok in Black & White (1999), Manit Sriwanichpoom’s first book of photographs of his home city, comes Bangkok in Technicolor, his first full-colour photo book, with images reflecting the culture clash between old and new.

Bangkok born and bred, Manit enjoyed drawing from an early age and his initial plan was to study architecture. Instead, his exam results earned him a place at Srinakharinwirot University, where he learned not only photography but the importance of freedom of expression.

For years he has been a leading figure in Bangkok’s lively contemporary art scene. Whether satirising the foibles of Thai nationalism, or rattling the skeletons of the country’s bloody political past, Manit’s work is always insightful and provocative.

His trademark “Pink Man” series has been exhibited the world over but his most recent projects mark a return to formal concerns, and open new questions about the future of a country divided, wracked by political and symbolic crisis. Shown above is Manit’s Siam Paragon Shopping Mall, Bangkok (2008).

Kathmandu Photo Gallery £19