At a glance
Bangkok youth in electric colour — raw, imperfect portraits of people creating identity, style and belonging on the margins of the city.
Why go
You'll see
Pace of visit
Don't miss
Artlovers Tip
Look at the imperfections. The scratches, strange colour shifts and chemical traces aren't Instagram-style effects added afterwards — they come from the physical photographic process. They also provide the key to Youth: Waikawee isn't searching for perfect photographs of perfect lives. He is interested in what people create from whatever circumstances and materials they have.
Artlovers relevance
Inside the exhibition
Meet the artist
Key Movements
Medium
Description
Youth brings together analogue photographs taken between 2008 and 2020 on the streets of Bangkok. Its title comes from the Thai expression wai run, but Waikawee deliberately expands the idea beyond biological age. Youth becomes a state of movement: curiosity, rebellion, reinvention and the capacity to adapt.
The portraits emerge from both spontaneous street encounters and relationships developed over years. Rather than turning marginalisation or economic hardship into spectacle, Waikawee concentrates on personality, friendship, style, resilience and the alternative communities people construct around themselves. Collectively, the photographs become an unofficial archive of Bangkok, preserving lives unlikely to enter conventional histories of the city.
The photographic process reinforces that idea. Expired film, cross-processing, scratches, dust and chemical accidents create intense oranges, magentas and greens. Instead of correcting these “faults,” Waikawee leaves them visible: the photograph carries evidence of what happened to it, just as the people he photographs carry their own histories.
Chardchakaj Waikawee (b. 1980, Bangkok) is a Thai photographer working across street photography, portraiture and experimental analogue processes. He has exhibited internationally at venues including Saatchi Gallery in London, Bangkok Art & Culture Centre, FOAM Amsterdam and Little Big Man in Los Angeles.
Worth travelling for?
Graces Mews is in Camberwell rather than central London's usual gallery circuit, but Youth is worth considering precisely as a discovery. It's vibrant and immediately enjoyable visually, while underneath the saturated colours sits a more interesting story about Bangkok, visibility, identity and who gets remembered by photography.
