Aestheticising a stigma
The photography of Thanakorn ‘Chai’ Telan challenges the hypocrisy of a culture that values sexy bodies while chastising nudity
Five years ago, at the age of 51, businessman Thanakorn “Chai” Telan decided to drop everything and pursue his passion for the fine arts. Using the camera as his tool of trade, Thanakorn found beauty in light, shadow and the female form. Taking mysterious and dreamlike photographs which inadvertently pay homage to the masters of nude like Ralph Gibson, Man Ray and Edward Weston, Thanakorn’s photography led to him being featured in international publications as well as exhibitions in countries like France, Italy and Argentina. Today, his body of work — under the exhibition name “Papillon” — can be seen in Charoen Nakhon’s The Jam Factory from now until Oct 28.
Inside the spacious gallery hangs black and white (and a few colour) photographs of the female form cloaked in shadow or bathed in sunlight. Some models walk completely nude in empty streets, while some sit inside abandoned houses, hugging themselves and creating elegant curves through the fusion of their body and shadows. The photographs are delicate, sensual and in no way erotic — as many Thais tend to misunderstand.
“I named the exhibition ‘Papillon’ [French for butterfly] because it kind of has two meanings,” said Thanakorn. “Butterflies represent women for their beauty, inner spirit and freedom. If we capture a butterfly, it loses its beauty and it dies. The other meaning is, when I was young, there was a movie called Papillon starring Steve McQueen and Dustin Hoffman. McQueen’s character was accused of a crime and went to jail. He wanted to break free. It’s like artistic nudes in Thailand. It’s been closed off. When people hear the word ‘nude’, they shut it down. It’s a subject that hasn’t been accepted in Thai society yet because we haven’t been taught like Westerners. For 5,000 years, every era has been taught to draw the human figure and the beauty of the body. People go to the gym to make their bodies beautiful but they end up saying the nude is something grotesque.”
“Nude”, as used by Thais in a loanword capacity, means “naked pictures”, and refers directly to pornography. Thanakorn, through his poetic and elegant photographs, hopes to show Thais that nude photography is anything but erotic and grotesque. He focuses on curves and silhouettes, which are exaggerated through his play of light and shadow.
Taking a majority of the photographs in Kiev, Ukraine, Thanakorn walked the streets freely with his model without any issues. If it were to happen in Thailand, he believes he’d make it to the front page of every newspaper.
“People just think that not wearing clothes is erotic,” he said. “People see models posing nude as prostitutes. It’s been ingrained in their heads. If it’s a real professional [model], they will be extremely angry [to hear that]. Some of these models studied fine arts, and this woman,” he said, pointing to a large, red-tinted portrait — “this woman is an architect.”
Taking artistic nude photographs, according to Thanakorn, is all about the perspective of the artist behind the camera. As long as your intentions are pure, the photograph will come out pure. He mainly chases the light, and tries to capture candid and moody moments to create the perfect picture.
“When I take photographs, I don’t see it as a human body,” he explains. “I see blacks and whites and lines. I’m completely in another zone. It’s just a beautiful form with good light, taken anywhere. As long as there’s good light coming through, we can create any shape. Let the light come in at an angle, and maybe underexpose a bit, and it’ll be all gone. I would let light and shadow hide certain elements. Fine-arts nude photography has been limited because of onesided judgement. [It is] waiting to be appreciated with true artistic freedom and understanding.”
As long as your intentions are pure, Chai believes, the photograph will come out pure