Back in the day, most prostitutes in Bangkok plied their trade in the area around Sanam Luang Park, under the watchful gaze of the Royal Palace. As they used to wait for their customers beneath the dense branches of the tamarind trees, people started referring to them as Tamarind Ghosts. In this unique piece from 2020, Tiane Doan na Champassak revisits one chapter of his homonymous book by rephotographing 24 gelatin silver prints from his collection of Thai vintage erotic photographs. This fragmentary composition of archival pigment photographs printed on Japanese paper encompasses not only the aethereal appeal of the tamarind ghosts but also the phantom quality of the gelatin silver prints altered over the decades by the extremely humid climate of Southeast Asia.

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Unique framed piece

24 archival pigment prints on Japanese paper

2020