Rediscovering Forgotten Thai Masters Of Photography

Rediscovering Forgotten Thai Masters of Photography gathers images taken in Thailand during the 1950s to 1970s by seven photographers: Buddhadasa Bhiku, Liang Ewe, S.H. Lim, Saengjun Limlohakul, Pornsak Sakdaenprai, ’Rong Wong-Savun and M.L. Toy Xoomsai. By assembling these bodies of works, the project offers conjectures on film photography and ethnographic lines of inquiry. The 247 remastered prints potentially survey photographic traditions at the onset of Modern Thailand, suggesting views such as celebrity and cosmopolitan life alongside inland societies and the periods antecedent to Thailand’s tourism in the 60s.

Rediscovering Forgotten Thai Masters of Photography project is on its second iteration. Its collaboration with NUS Museum proposes ways in which para-institutional research reflects shared urgencies of finding other trajectories in the framing of art history and practice.