Manit
Sriwanichpoom

Manit Sriwanichpoom

biography

Actor of the comtemporanery art scene in Bangkok, Manit Sriwanichpoom defines himself as an activist who uses photography since it allows him to shape rapidly up his points of view; his protests, his urges. He is utterly reactive, instantaneous. And so, he realized an outstanding black and white serie of mise en scene, framed by heavy gilt, parodying photojournalism icons, in which napalm victims or fleeing refugees carrying luxury brands packagings. It was his answer to the South East Asian financial krach of the late eighties. He created a character, « Mister Pink », dressed with an intense pink silk suit, accompanied by a matching shopping trolley and cell phone which he uses to reveal and to denounce the consumerists foibles of our society.

Series

Bangkok in technicolor, 2015

The morphing of Bangkok is now nearly complete ; the result a strange mutation, a new environment garish and alien.

Obscene, 2014

In 2012, Manit Sriwanichpoom made a series, which depicts his own vision of Thai politics, when Yingluck Shinawatra became first female Prime Minister...

Blue, 2014

“Blue” the latest body of work by Manit Sriwanichpoom presents a series of female and male nudes in various contorted poses.

Mister Pink, 2009

Mister Pink is a Thai actor. He is in fact a creature invented and directed by Manit Sriwanichapoom, an activist artist who uses photography and transforms it into a revealing element...

Red Riots, 2009

Thailand, Masters, 2009

Held up at a red light one day while driving past religious icon shops around the Giant Swing in Bangkok, I noticed two life-sized statues of monks. One depicted Lhuang Por Toh Brahmarangsi (Holy Father Toh, King’s Mongkut’s guru, 1788-1872)...

Ordinary/Extraordinary, 2006

Photographer Manit Sriwanichpoom says of these faces that "these are the people around my studio.": “I’d see them pass by every day, but I didn’t know any of them. My life is consumed by the world outside the soi."

Safari, 2005

These exquisite still-lifes, taken in Nairobi when Manit was invited to teach a workshop there, exude a quality of absurdity and sadness...

In-Your-Face, 2002

For sitters, I chose my expressive artist friends. I then tried to present them in ways that would be inconceivable even to them...

This Bloodless War, 1997

With the series "This Bloodless War", Manit Sriwanichpoom denounces the ravages of capitalism by replaying famous images of photojournalism.

Bangkok in technicolor, 2015

The morphing of Bangkok is now nearly complete ; the result a strange mutation, a new environment garish and alien.

Obscene, 2014

In 2012, Manit Sriwanichpoom made a series, which depicts his own vision of Thai politics, when Yingluck Shinawatra became first female Prime Minister...

Blue, 2014

“Blue” the latest body of work by Manit Sriwanichpoom presents a series of female and male nudes in various contorted poses.

Mister Pink, 2009

Mister Pink is a Thai actor. He is in fact a creature invented and directed by Manit Sriwanichapoom, an activist artist who uses photography and transforms it into a revealing element...

Red Riots, 2009

Thailand, Masters, 2009

Held up at a red light one day while driving past religious icon shops around the Giant Swing in Bangkok, I noticed two life-sized statues of monks. One depicted Lhuang Por Toh Brahmarangsi (Holy Father Toh, King’s Mongkut’s guru, 1788-1872)...

Ordinary/Extraordinary, 2006

Photographer Manit Sriwanichpoom says of these faces that "these are the people around my studio.": “I’d see them pass by every day, but I didn’t know any of them. My life is consumed by the world outside the soi."

Safari, 2005

These exquisite still-lifes, taken in Nairobi when Manit was invited to teach a workshop there, exude a quality of absurdity and sadness...

In-Your-Face, 2002

For sitters, I chose my expressive artist friends. I then tried to present them in ways that would be inconceivable even to them...

This Bloodless War, 1997

With the series "This Bloodless War", Manit Sriwanichpoom denounces the ravages of capitalism by replaying famous images of photojournalism.

Bangkok in technicolor, 2015

The morphing of Bangkok is now nearly complete ; the result a strange mutation, a new environment garish and alien.

Obscene, 2014

In 2012, Manit Sriwanichpoom made a series, which depicts his own vision of Thai politics, when Yingluck Shinawatra became first female Prime Minister...

Blue, 2014

“Blue” the latest body of work by Manit Sriwanichpoom presents a series of female and male nudes in various contorted poses.

Mister Pink, 2009

Mister Pink is a Thai actor. He is in fact a creature invented and directed by Manit Sriwanichapoom, an activist artist who uses photography and transforms it into a revealing element...

Red Riots, 2009

Thailand, Masters, 2009

Held up at a red light one day while driving past religious icon shops around the Giant Swing in Bangkok, I noticed two life-sized statues of monks. One depicted Lhuang Por Toh Brahmarangsi (Holy Father Toh, King’s Mongkut’s guru, 1788-1872)...

Ordinary/Extraordinary, 2006

Photographer Manit Sriwanichpoom says of these faces that "these are the people around my studio.": “I’d see them pass by every day, but I didn’t know any of them. My life is consumed by the world outside the soi."

Safari, 2005

These exquisite still-lifes, taken in Nairobi when Manit was invited to teach a workshop there, exude a quality of absurdity and sadness...

In-Your-Face, 2002

For sitters, I chose my expressive artist friends. I then tried to present them in ways that would be inconceivable even to them...

This Bloodless War, 1997

With the series "This Bloodless War", Manit Sriwanichpoom denounces the ravages of capitalism by replaying famous images of photojournalism.

Interviews

Show: Invitation to travel

Arte
—
The Bangkok of the mischievous Mister Pink, 2023

On the streets of Bangokok, this character in a pink suit is the work of a daring photographer: Manit Sriwanichpoom, the troublemaker of the Thai photographic scene. With humour, irony and a sense of provocation, he has been capturing the metamorphosis of Bangkok, where he was born in 1961, for almost 40 years. This militant artist, who has exhibited in Japan, France and Australia, uses his “Mister Pink” to reveal the flaws in society.

Director: Juliette Tissot

Show

Manit Sriwanichpoom: Artist Talk
Chennai Photo Biennale
—
2019

Manit Sriwanichpoom (b 1961) is one of Thailand’s leading photographers, and the best known in the international art world, having exhibited worldwide including in the Centre Pompidou (Paris, 2010), The Asia Pacific Triennial (Australia, 2009), Photoquai (Paris, 2007), Gwangj.

An interview with Manit Sriwanichpoom
The Artling
—
Interview by Kim Tay, 2016

The Artling interviewed the artist Manit Sriwanichpoom on the occasion of his recent solo exhibition, Fear, presented at Yavuz Gallery concurrently with three other galleries in Bangkok, to find out more about his thoughts on the current situation in Thailand and his advice for young artists. 

Read

books

Pink Man Story

Kathmandu Photo Gallery

Bangkok in Technicolor

Kathmandu Photo Gallery - 2014

Plasticien

Œil éditions - 1997

Pink Man Story

Kathmandu Photo Gallery

Bangkok in Technicolor

Kathmandu Photo Gallery - 2014

Plasticien

Œil éditions - 1997

Pink Man Story

Kathmandu Photo Gallery

Bangkok in Technicolor

Kathmandu Photo Gallery - 2014

Plasticien

Œil éditions - 1997

awards

Chevalier de l’ordre des Arts et des Lettres by French Ministry of Culture

2014

Higashikawa Photo Award, Hokkaido, Japan

For the series: Pink Man in Paradise

2007