Review of Mark Kitsawaeng’s work by Ale Sone

     At twenty eight-years old, Thai photographer Mark Kitsawaeng has an extensive portfolio in which he has navigated through a myriad of genres and fortunately for the viewer he has found a sweet spot in all of them. Somewhere between photojournalism, fine art and travel photography is where his art lies but one thing is sure, you can't box it. Mark’s images are not to be labeled but felt and that is possible because they are straight forward and pure.

     In his latest project, an ongoing body of work called These Are The Ones That Hurt The Most, this time has turn the gaze directly at himself and is inviting us to delve into his private life, subject that has gradually shown up in his work, probably as a natural developing of a somehow coming of age artist and the fact that he has travel the world having the chance to see his own life from different perspectives; influenced by the stream of thought from New York Film Academy, from where he just got his MFA, Mark is opening himself up to discovering parts of him at the same time that he shares them with the world.

     The work so far is a group of three different scenarios, some of them with more than one image per setup; they are tied by certain elements, like one main subject, the photographer who wears different dresses with flower patterns in a very particular way each time.

     The first diptych portrays a subject sitting in front of a purple background, next to a small table with a purple tablecloth, and a painting of a nude woman. In the middle of the photograph the artist sits cloaked in a dress with peach flower patterns – the dress covering him from head to toe, rendering his gaze invisible. His stiff position sitting on the chair along with his inaccessible face/gaze alludes to a lack of freedom and control in his life. On the right side, the painting of the nude woman leans with her gaze pointed towards his lap, pointing to the core of the series – having been born male but raised as a girl by his family. The painting, in pastel tones (reminiscent of religious paintings), is beautiful, delicate, romantic and dreamy – are these the qualities the subject’s family was intending to impose on him? 

     One of the shifting elements in the diptych is the wig: in one image it sits carefully on his head as if to be under a spell where he has no control over what’s happening to him – he forcefully holds a flower on his hand as if that's the only move he can make. In the other photograph, the wig is draped over the edge of the table, as a discarded garment. The only signifer we get of the subject is his feet – perhaps this is the beginning of the subject finding himself and moving away from the imposed ideals set by his family.

     Another set of photographs presented as a triptych feel like a big shift from the rest of the images which sit still in the past – the kid raised as a girl. In the triptych, the subject sits leisurely on a motorcycle covered in purple fabric, and his face obstructed by a bundle of flowers. Unbothered the subject appears to have had a dramatic change in his attitude – is this a real future or an imagined one? Because there are limited signifiers in these images, as opposed to the rest of the series, the artist poignantly points to the relationship between the bike and the masked subject. As a viewer we can see the motorbike as a signifier of masculinity and power, one that does not only belong to men but socially understood. There is a juxtaposition between the flower masked face and the meanings we can derive from the motorbike – which lead us to think and wonder, is the artist constantly oscillating between the childhood experience being raised as a girl and at the same time identifying as a man? Does the motorbike then, represent a kind of reassurance for the subject? I am a man, and I can cover my face in flowers too – altering the image of what we as viewers think a man looks like. 

     There are many things that people reach for when they acquire this type of transport but there is one that transcends genders, and that is freedom. The mostly concealed and timidly uncovered motorbike is an analogy of how the subject is starting to reveal himself to the world. The purple fabric covering the bike feels like the identity that was imposed on him as a child, and under it the elephant in the room that can no longer be hidden and is spilling out. The subject sits on top patiently waiting for this veil to completely fall of. In the process of making this series, he is ready to come out, to himself, perhaps for the first time to the world. He wears a helmet and shoes, he is ready, unlike the previous barefoot photographs which appear as vulnerable and unprepared. 

     There is a dialectic between the elements in the photograph, there is not a rejection of his past experience – the flower wallpaper representing the past, as an obvious part of his life impossible to delete, the short flower dress and the flowers coming out of his helmet representative of his femininity – he is finding a way to gold all those things at once, one not negating the other. This is the start of accepting both sides and finding a way to accommodate both his past and his true self. He is directing his gaze straight to the camera, and although we can not make eye contact due to the face obstructed by flowers, he holds himself accountable and confident. He is not hiding behind the flowers nor the helmet, instead he is speaking through them in order to move forward.

     The second set has a similar structure, a central subject surrounded by elements that give the impression are part of a still life. In the background a big rug in brown tones on the left side a brown and dusty shelf with some lifeless books, VHS unlabeled tapes and an old computer screen that is placed as a decoration and doesn't seem to have a real use. On the other side of the photo, again there is a painting, but this time smaller and the image is a delicate vase with flowers in tones brown, pink, greens and whites. The artist again occupies the center of the image, sitting down in a small stool, a blue dress, with pink flowers that he is wearing it in a traditional way that type of garment is used and again we can't see his face, just because it is covered by a leafy flower bouquet, in bright yellow and orange colors. There are two photos of you set up on one, he is sitting in a strange manner, straight legs and hanging arms and in the other one, in a more natural way, or more seen fashion but in both images we can see his hands, the calves and his barefoot feet.

     The third set, with three different images, is slightly different and although we have a central subject, there are not a bunch of elements decorating the scene and the background it is a flower pattern that covers the image from corner to corner; this time instead the subject is on top of a motorbike, the only extra element, but you can just see part of it in one of the images and in the other two it is completely covered by the purple fabric we saw in the first set. The photographer, again wears a flowered dress, a shorter and more informal piece, and has shoes on. But again we can’t see his face because he has a helmet on and flowers come from the interior, completely blocking any chance of visual contact.

     What is the artist trying to tell us? The messages are very cryptic but we are aware that Kitsawaeng has started a process of revising parts of his past that are not completely clear for him or the viewer. He has given us a key part of information. Due to being the second child and the financial hardship that his family went through, he inherited everything his older sister had and he basically was raised as a girl. These sets of images are our only pieces of the puzzle but the missing information is not necessarily because the photographer doesn’t not want to share it, instead as I said earlier, he is discovering while he creates. 

     Flooding the images with flowers speaks loud about the femenine influence on his life; we could understand the usage as a way to confront directly and without shortcuts something that can be considered a taboo, his past as a girl. The change of scenarios could be the many different versions of the reality he has lived, the reality he remembers, the reality his family remembers, what actually happened or the reality that he would prefer to have as a memory. The juxtaposition of extreme elements, like a delicate flower dress --associated with femininity -- with heavy machinery like a motorbike -- socially associated with masculinity -- it is the evidence of that the identity of a person it is created by different layers and perspectives; Mark is living a reality nowadays different from what he did as a child, different in many ways, not just about gender identity but economically, geographically and hierarchy; he has enough freedom to move away from a confusion past but maybe that past is a core piece that makes him who he is today.

     I see this project as a visual representation of his mind, how he is dealing with this part of his life, it is a surreal history not very common, not something that you can find many people to relate or understand, he is starting to make sense and putting pieces together; some of these pieces, the flowers, the dresses are the elements that he cant deny as a part of his life, and other elements, like the motorbike are the elements that maybe reassure who he is today. Combining these elements he creates this space in which everything is accepted and possible, images that are surreal but are a truth. We know is him although we don't see his face, this could be a way to show the timeless condition of the story, the genderless condition of the soul. A mixture between old objects and new ones, a mixture of histories that distort the perception of the things that happened and the body language, little hints on when and how he feels more comfortable.

     Overall Kitsawaeng achieves a set of images that embark the viewer in an intimate journey, creates fun scenarios and encourages the questioning of the work in a didactic way. As spectators we have to be aware of the confusion and that we are not necessarily in front of an answer but we are actually being guided and being witnesses of a process in motion.