Ply
Yodchat Bupasiri (Ply)
Artist & Illustrator
Bangkok, Thailand
The week I arrived in Bangkok coincided with Bangkok Design Week and it was there that I had the great pleasure of meeting Ply. June and I were checking out the booths and came across her’s. She was selling commissioned portraits done in her style and some prints. I fell instantly in love with her style and both of us ordered a portrait each without hesitation. (You can see examples of the portraits on the second photo. In black and yellow. Yellow is her favourite colour.) When our portraits were ready to be collected, I told Ply that I wanted to photograph her for this project. She was quite nice about it (A brief respite. I was rejected by two other artists earlier that night.) and told me that she had to ask her brother as they were sharing the space. We exchanged contacts and I headed home, hoping to hear from her again.
The day after, I was waiting for Ply at her apartment lobby, nervous as this was the first artist I was visiting and it would set the precedent for how the rest of the trip was going to go. Upon entering her home, Ply offered me some tea, perhaps she could feel my anxiety and tried to ease my nerves. She showed me around her space while I set up my camera. As a photographer, I was immediately drawn to her walls and how much information/character they hold. She had works from other artists and some from herself. Stacked nicely were also tons and tons of books and art supplies.
I asked Ply what her favourite body of work was and in response, she took a book out of its woven sleeve and told me about the zine she created to remember and process her grandmother’s passing. Ply took the time to flip through every single page and told me the memories and stories associated with each. The pages were brightly coloured and some contained different textures from the use of different mediums. At the end of the zine, I felt like I knew Ply’s grandmother. Little things like how she was a collector (She always had rubber bands and binder clips in her bag), to how she loved durian but was not allowed any by her grandkids. The cover of Ply’s zine was also covered with cloth from one of her grandmother’s blouse.
You can view the zine here.
Ply’s favourite page. Her grandmother loved collecting fake plants.
I told Ply to continue whatever she was working on before I arrived and snapped some photos. While watching her work, I noticed that her works resembled the pages of a children’s book and pointed that out to her. She started talking about her time at the Bologna Children’s Book Fair and we looked through some children’s books from her collection. I then remembered my own collection of children’s books back home. Some from my childhood and some I purchased when I was in my teens. One thing we both agreed on was that children’s books were really collections of visuals and stories that still have value even in adulthood.
A collage of her brother and grandmother on a walk.
Before she allowed me to visit, Ply said her home was messy. I told her that the mess was what I was looking for. It’s like a personal gallery.
I noticed how Ply’s work had some elements of collaging and so I asked if that was her style. In response, she told me that she did not believe she had a fixed style. She changes her medium based on what the stories require. That different mediums serve different stories. What a liberating idea. That artists should not restrict themselves to just one form of storytelling and should instead explore different ways of telling a story better. This was evident in the next work Ply was about to show me.
This was a collaborative project with COLLAGECANTO (Bua), designing the book cover of “The Romance of the Harem”. The book was a new Thai edition translated from the original written by Anna Harriette Leonowens. It tells the story of the lives and love of the women in King Rama IV’s court.
Ply explained the process behind developing this cover. It included her reading through the story and interpreting it in her own way. That was the fun part for Ply. To create visuals from something non visual through research and experimentation. They also had to try different types of paper and patterns. Ply designed and Bua was put in charge of the delicate task of paper cutting. I was truly amazed at the amount of dedication the both of them put in for this project. As of writing this, they just completed the second volume of the series titled, “The English Governess at the Siamese Court”.
Click here to read more about the process behind the designing of this cover. It is written in Thai but Google Chrome can easily translate it for you.
I continued watching Ply work and just as I was packing up, the most gorgeous light spilled into her studio. That was usually a sign for photographers to continue shooting. So I leave you with some photos with amazing light.
