Pumipat Usapratumban
My name is Pumipat Usapratumban.
Born and raised in Bangkok, Thailand, I study photography and video at the School of Visual Arts, NYC.
Due to the pandemic, I am currently back in Bangkok, making pictures in my hometown again.
Exhibition
Myth of the Tropical Jungle
My work involves the idea of a line between reality, illusion, and the concept of constructing the images. I am interested in the idea that photography can transform what’s in front of the lens into something different, something that looks fictional and real at the same time. I am making work that resembles staged diorama and paper sculpture, with the image-making process that enables me to control all the elements in the picture.
My obsession with southeast Asian myths and tales influenced my photographs; as a Thai, these myths and legends had played an essential role in my upbringing. When I was young, my grandparent would tell me stories that had passed along from generations and generations. I always visualized these stories along in my mind as my grandparent told them to me. And weirdly enough, these imaginations stuck onto my memory, some as a fraction of an image, objects, or an entire scene in the story.
These photographs are derived from my childhood imagination of what it would look like if these myths and stories come to life. I revisited fractions of my childhood memories through the process of manufacturing and photographing these dioramas and objects.
My name is Pumipat Usapratumban.
Born and raised in Bangkok, Thailand, I study photography and video at the School of Visual Arts, NYC.
Due to the pandemic, I am currently back in Bangkok, making pictures in my hometown again.
My work involves the idea of a line between reality, illusion, and the concept of constructing the images. I am interested in the idea that photography can transform what’s in front of the lens into something different, something that looks fictional and real at the same time. I am making work that resembles staged diorama and paper sculpture, with the image-making process that enables me to control all the elements in the picture.
My obsession with southeast Asian myths and tales influenced my photographs; as a Thai, these myths and legends had played an essential role in my upbringing. When I was young, my grandparent would tell me stories that had passed along from generations and generations. I always visualized these stories along in my mind as my grandparent told them to me. And weirdly enough, these imaginations stuck onto my memory, some as a fraction of an image, objects, or an entire scene in the story.
These photographs are derived from my childhood imagination of what it would look like if these myths and stories come to life. I revisited fractions of my childhood memories through the process of manufacturing and photographing these dioramas and objects.