What is your technique?
For this exhibition, low shutter speeds create abstract movements in relation to the story, causing a trace of movement of the face, feet, or other parts of the body. The medium used is a digital medium format Hasselblad camera and studio lights. There was no merging of images. This is a traditional technique of photography.

What was your source of inspiration?
I got my inspiration from meeting people with different stations in society, be it actors, singers, directors, playwrights, politicians, ministers, Red Shirts, Yellow Shirts. Everybody plays their roles differently in different situations. From that I got the idea that one’s status confers a particular role to an individual. Our status makes us act in certain ways and makes other people expect us to be something. These things act like a mask that makes us who we are.

Tell us a bit about this photo, Man Khon The Queen. Why is it shot from the back?
This is after the quarrel over the khon has finished. The woman in the picture now has full possession of the mask and the queen’s crown, looking back at the moving people before stepping forward to her new status in which she has to rule with compassion and ethics. This picture illustrates the episode before she has real power, when she isn’t wearing the khon yet.

Were they performing when you took the pictures? Or were the pictures staged?
There wasn’t a real Khon performance. Of all the actors, some are khon players, but some are Thai traditional dancers and some are contemporary dancers. I had studied the various movements before actually taking the pictures. I would assign different movements in each photo, each with a hidden meaning. The preparation involved more than 40 sketches before the real photo session even happened. Interview by Vasachol Quadri and Natthanun Prasongchaikul

Why did you make the switch from R&B to jazz?        
I did not make a switch. I have been a jazz player all my life, ever since I first heard a recording of John Coltrane when I was 14. I was, however, a studio player in Los Angeles for about 25 years, and that required me to play many different kinds of music, one of which was R&B. So when playing that, I was a jazz player performing R&B music.  But I was always a jazz player.

Did your life change after winning your first Grammy?
Not much, since my life focus is on playing the music and continuing to grow and develop in it and through it. So I was still (as I am now) practicing every day, writing music, and playing. I may have gotten more work because people in the business knew about the award.

You’ve recorded with a lot of great artists. Which big name have you most enjoyed working with?
Charlie Haden, the iconic bass player of jazz, has been a particularly wonderful musician to play with. I have been in his group Quartet West for 25 years now, enjoying Charlie’s incredible tone and the rich musical experience that the group produces.

What artist would you most like to work with?
I have always wanted to play with the great jazz pianist Keith Jarrett.  I admire his music very much.

You’ve been playing jazz for decades. How has your style evolved? Has technology been a factor?
My style, when I was a student, was at first a choice of ideas from what I heard on records of great musicians, and then gradually I found my own “voice” (my sound) as I continued to play more and more. Now, as a long-time professional playing for over 50 years, my style still continuously evolves, because I am always practicing, listening to music, and trying new musical ideas.

Technique and medium: Oil on canvas

What is the reason behind U Lun Gwye’s acclaim in Burma?
U Lun Gwye is probably among the last of his generation of artists in Southeast Asia and also one of the very few who had part of their art training abroad. He has served the Burmese art community as an art educator, a private art tutor whereby younger painters “apprentice” themselves to his art practice in order to study his style of painting as well as his artistic discipline. His painting practice has been given recognition by premier art institutions in Southeast Asia and his works are in some very notable public and private collections. These are among the factors that have earned him the recognition as a “master painter.”

What do you think his work says about Burmese women?
Painting is regarded as visual documentation. U Lun Gwye’s artistic renderings regard the beauty of Burmese women as one that extends beyond the physical. He often portrays village women executing everyday duties and rituals and through these he is able to see beyond the surface. Through his vibrant colors he relates the joyous nature of women and the sense of camaraderie amongst women.

How does he see Burmese women?
I believe that U Lun Gwye recognizes that beauty is universal, but of course, culturally he has studied the psyche of Burmese women, who in his work are often demure, feminine—yet they have an inner strength. In the history of Burma, there have been very powerful queens and courtesans.

What would you say about this painting, Nymph on the Rocks?
U Lun Gywe is an articulate landscapist and it is not unusual for him to set the figurative within the landscape. In many of his paintings, water is prominent and water has very powerful connotations. Here, he portrays a female figure almost like a water nymph—mysterious and sensuous.

Does he favor the work of any artists in particular?
As a young artist, U Lun Gywe, like many painters, studied the works of the European Impressionist painters and though he has often spoken of his experiences when he studied in East Germany about his experiences viewing such works first hand, he has never indicated any preferences to any particular Western artists. However he has and continues to pay homage to U Thein Han, his mentor who became an important guidepost in his career and his life.

What’s the art scene like in Burma?
The art scene in Yangon is a very active and evolving one and, today, there are many disciplines of visual art to be seen.

How did the band start?
Shin-No: Three years ago, I was just travelling in Thailand, and was so fascinated by many aspects of the country, language obviously being one of them. So a year later, I stared taking Thai classes and listening to Thai music. Thai tunes are so different from the J-rock I’d been playing and they sounded great to me. Then I came up with the idea of covering these songs. Originally, not everyone was in the band. Tetsu, Keita and Ryo played together in another band called Kido Kyomei. But then we invited them to join us and got together to play Thai music.

Why the name Hanuman?
There is a Japanese expression, “saru mane”, which means “a monkey trying to act like a human.” We’re kind of like that monkey, as we are trying to imitate Thai people. We looked up several Thai words for monkey, and we picked up Hanuman, one of the brave and amazing characters in Thai literature.

Who is your favorite Thai artist?
Toh Nattapol Putti-Pawana, ex-vocalist of Sillyfools, who’s now doing vocals for Hangman. I love Sillyfools’ songs, but the first song we actually covered was “Chocolate” by Hangman.

What inspired you to write your song, “I Mai Muan?”
In Thai class, I learned that the sound “I” as in “mai muan” is spelled differently from the “I” sound in “I-mai-ma-lai.” I asked my teacher how I could remember when to use which, and he said that there is a mneumonic song that students use to remember, but because we’re not Thai, maybe we should write our own song. He was just joking, but we wrote it anyway, and now it’s used for Japanese students learning Thai as well.

Can we expect to see an album? Would it be in Thai or Japanese?
Yes, we are now working on our full album. We have six singles on YouTube, and they’re both in Thai and a mix of Thai and Japanese. The full album will hopefully be released and on sale at the Fat Festival at the end of this year. We’ll be playing there, too.

What was your first time on a Thai stage like?
After we started getting hits on YouTube, we created a Facebook page to communicate with our fans. I’d been writing on there about how much we wanted to play on Fat Radio, and I guess some of our fans were able to recommend us to people at Fat. We were contacted to join their music festival. Even then, we thought we’d be performing on the S stage, the smallest one. But we will get to be on the M stage, along with some famous Thai bands like Hangman. When performing, the most exciting moment is always when the audience knows your song and can sing along. It’s so much fun.

Catch Shin-No-Suke and his band on YouTube right here.

Technique and medium: Acrylic on canvas

What is your fasination with abstract painting?
An abstract artist can create imagery that doesn’t already exist in the real world. Not a story or narrative, but a new image, created inside the artist’s mind. There are many forms of art that re-create images we already see. I think abstract painting has more freedom in terms of the ability to imagine imagery. For example, if we compare music without words, and music with words, the sound without a narrative gives the listener more freedom to form his or her own associations. Abstract art is perceived as being difficult to understand but I think we shouldn’t put so much emphasis on understanding. Some things in this world are better to not understand. It’s a good thing to pretend to be stupid sometimes.

What is the main point of concern in your work?
To be true to myself. I make work that makes me feel good or happy­—not in order to please others. I try not to think about any rules or theory when painting, but people will still judge it in those terms.

What is the inspiration for this current exhibition, After Afterall?
The changing of the world’s climate. For me, everything is changing, all the time. Whether it’s good or bad, I feel like I can accept the outcome. This doesn’t mean that I like people who destroy the planet, but I try to do my best not to make it worse.

What is your exhibition’s message?
It’s not intended to tell anyone anything. People can come to see the kinds of images I’ve imagined, and are invited to feel however they will. Hopefully, they feel inspired to take care of the earth, and use less resources, because we use too much, too fast.

What are the differences between this exhibition and your previous exhibitions?
This theme is similar to my last exhibition, No Valid Matter. But, this one is more focused on nature. They are both about letting things go, and about accepting change. However, After Afterall is more specifically about the issue of the earth. Technically, this new work has more layers, more detail. In both I use a technique of applying paint without touching the surface of the canvas with a brush or any other tools. In this way, I, as the artist, am less likely to interfere with the relationship between the surface and the paint. These elements can work together to evolve, as in nature. This way of working can be compared to the notion of acceptance of change or evolution.

Afterafterall is on display from Jun 9-Jul 16.

When did you start playing music?
18 years ago in England. I listened to Gun N’ Roses and I saw their lead guitarist, Slash, and I wanted to play guitar like him. So my mom bought me a secondhand guitar, and I formed a band with my friend. Back then our sound was more like rock, punk and hardcore, but now that I’m getting older, I do more slow stuff, more chill and acoustic. As for Thailand, I came here to travel and really loved the culture, the people and the language, so when I went back to England, I wanted to compose a song in Thai. I wrote it in English and had some Thai friends translate it.

How did you get in touch with Parinam Music?
Over a year ago, I was here looking for a studio. I had a meeting with Poom and played him some of my music. It went from there. I provided them with the melody, and the entire band at Parinam helped me compose the Thai lyrics. It’s difficult singing in Thai but the more I practice, the better I get.

How would you describe Aplin’s sound?
It’s called acoustic percussion. It involves playing not just the strings of the guitar, but rather using the body of the guitar as well to create a beat while you sing.

Is it difficult to mix your English melodies with Thai lyrics?
I’m not the person who composes in Thai so for me the music is very much an English melody but with Thai lyrics. And that’s why our music has something different to offer. Because I’m not Thai, I can’t write with the Thai mindset. I try to create something new for Thai people to listen to, like when I listen to Thai music, a lot of it sounds similar. So, I try to bring something fresh and hopefully people will like it.

How do you like playing here?
The British music industry is hard to break into. If you want to be famous, you must sing in a certain way and dress in a certain style. But for Thai music, there is a lot of room for doing what you really believe in and being yourself. But the audiences also are different in style; Thai audiences focus on the lyrics while in England, people focus more on the music and the melodic line.

I was singing “Kae Nan Ang,” the song by Pla Nin Tem Ban at the recent Fat Radio T-shirt Festival. That was the first time that they wanted to officially introduce me as Aplin. I played in Bangkok before, actually, but nothing on a large scale. There were more than 500 people at the festival. I was sweating backstage and had my eyes closed through half the performance.

Medium and technique: Oil and gas tanks.

What was the process behind this exhibition?
It started from my concern over environmental changes which are mostly created by humans. So, I selected a medium that is manmade and used it to get across a message from the small living creatures. What would they say about the world today if they could speak?

You were born in Isaan. Has that influenced you in this exhibition?
Not directly, but I previously I lived on a farm where there were small creatures such as field crabs, dragonflies and other tiny insects. First, I was just interested in their beauty and strong bodies as they were wrapped with a hard shell. Later, I noticed that these small living creatures have their own natural way to adapt themselves to changes in nature or even signal to us environmental events, like the tsunami.

So, it is was the tsunami that made you focus on marine creatures?
Not only the tsunami, actually. Basically I focused on marine animals because their shape goes well with my choice of medium. But what I would like to highlight is all the environmental changes from global warming to earthquakes. For example, the phenomenon of a hermit crab using an empty can as a home. They used to use empty shells for habitation but as our seaside is being destroyed, they adapt and it acts as a signal for us to notice these changes.

Is there any meaning behind your use of a lot of contrasting colors?
Actually, the color from my sculpture is the original color of the oil and gas tanks, you can still see the writing on the sides. I just mixed them in an artistic way and added the idea of capitalism to my work. I do intend to make it attractive as actually the crabs are naturally a very beautiful color. The use of contrasting colors is to get the audience’s attention but once they step closer, they’ll realize that it was made from a dirty oil tank. Hopefully, this will create an awareness among the audience about the effect of their own actions.