Deliberately unarousing, surreal, obscure, Nipon Intarit’s monochrome nudes are different. His models of both sexes lack the preconceived notion of standardised perfection. They are posed to create enigmas that aggressively question the imbalance of power between the sexes in a society founded upon Thai-style Theravada Buddhism, whose cultural framework enshrines male superiority.
In ‘Exorcism’, a nude woman is regurgitating her imposed and undesired femininity, as defined by her culture, symbolised here by her long black hair. The image is symmetrical, high-contrast, beautiful. In ‘Mythical Creature’, a thick-bodied, big-chested woman has sprouted a tail of lotus bud, a symbol of Buddhism, as if she is about to achieve enlightenment – a daring defiance Thai Buddhist values and beliefs that debase Thai womanhood.
Poet Nipon Intarit (born 1978) dedicated himself to photography for decades before achieving his first solo exhibition, ‘Fairly Tale’, a remarkable series of photographs invoking the rich imaginative world of childhood, at Kathmandu Photo Gallery in 2013.