Manit Sriwanichpoom: Interview

by Carmen Nge


We live in a world where photography has become the tool of advertising and capitalist propaganda and we acquiesce. Indeed, we even genuflect at the altar of shopping and slick promotion gimmicks. As a professional photographer who lives off the fat of lucrative advertising orders, Thai artist Manit Sriwanichpoom knows this world of insidious global capital all too well. His response: the creation of his iconic and vibrantly-hued Pink Man, the fruit of capitalism’s excesses but also the most apathetic observer of its ironies and failures.



Why the Pink Man? Isn't it mostly women who love to shop? Isn’t pink usually a colour associated with femininity?

First of all, I'm a man and I know man's world well enough. Since the World is still being controlled and led by men, who else should I criticize? The particular 'fluorescent pink' that I've used is considered by Thai people to be culturally the color of bad taste, and vulgar. I wanted to portray a middle-aged man looking funny, pathetic, and contemptible. I can't think about getting a woman to act in this role since I see that she is also another victim of men's ideas.


Are there particular issues in Thailand that you want to highlight using the Pink Man? Are these issues applicable to the rest of Asia as well?

The issues that I’ve highlighted are consumerism, tourism, socio-political issues, image-making and the latest one that I've been working on is 'Neo-nationalism'. Asian countries have been developing in the same sort of direction in terms of economic practice—Globalization and Free Trade, despite political differences.


The Pink Man is also someone who is constantly window shopping but he doesn’t buy anything because his cart is always empty. Are you trying to say that shopping is an act without meaning? That consumerism can never fulfill us?

Yes, that is what I wanted to say. Consumerism is a form of Greed. How could you fulfill it?


What is your opinion about the effects of consumerism and globalization in Asia and Thailand?

I am not against globalization if it's for good and not for greed, for better understanding not for manipulation, for freedom and not for slavery. So far, from what I see, we have the wrong perception about globalization. People think that through the mechanism of consumerism and technology we will achieve globalization faster and get richer faster. Instead it's creating more problems globally such as terrorism, neo-nationalism, global warming and so on.


What will come next for you in your work? In light of the recent events in Southern Thailand, do you think you may be creating works commenting on the problems in that area?

Yes, in my next show the Pink Man will deal with 'Neo-nationalism' that has come back again, from the economic crisis of 1997 with the rise of Thailand's current ruling party 'Thai Rak Thai' (Thai loves Thai or Thai Patriot) up to the unrest in the south.

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This interview appears in Off The Edge, February 2005 issue.