Photo: mongjeng THIS COLORFUL PHOTOGRAPHY SERIES CONTAINS A COMPILATION OF EXQUISITE PHOTOS OF THE PEOPLE, ANIMALS, AND ARTIFACTS THAT REVEAL THE STORY OF BOTH SIDES OF VARANASI, THE HALLOWED HEAVEN, AND THE LAND OF THE DEAD
TEXT: SURAWIT BOONJOO
PHOTO CREDIT AS NOTED
(For Thai, press here)
The Good Place
ARC Press, 2023
Hardcover Foil Stamping, Offset Printing
18.5 x 25.4 cm
136 pages
Design by Pariwat Anantachina
Cover typography by Kamonlak Sukchai
Kanrapee Chokpaiboon is a street photographer who co-founded Arc Tribe, a digital magazine, and Arc Press, an independent publisher. Much of his creative work is influenced by his fascination with science-fiction films, extraterrestrial life, and stories about spiritual myths. His photographic approach frequently mimics reality within the drama. It also produces a surreal atmosphere conveyed through oddities and a dark sense of humor in the images.
The photography series ‘The Good Place’ arose from the photographer’s fascination in the legends of extraterrestrial entities that, in some cases, share similarities with aspects of Hinduism. The convergence between supernatural and religious ideas prompted him to come to the area, where he worked on photography that captured various aspects of the story across four journeys to Varanasi, India. According to Kanrapee, the book’s images may represent an important milestone in defining his photography’s style, direction, and rhythms, prompting him to take photography seriously again after reflecting on his approaches and work processes.
Photo: Surawit Boonjoo
The Good Place is a visually beautiful book with a shining silver cover. In addition to its excellent size, the book contains a compilation of exquisite photos of the people, animals, artifacts, and ambiance of Varanasi that Kanrapee encountered while visiting this holy city. In this book, he tells the story using a collage of pictures and anecdotes inspired by the environment of this hallowed city, which is divided by the Ganges River into two sections: hallowed Heaven and the Land of the Dead. Images of humans, gods, and other associated things depict the sacred banks, nourished and intermingled with shots of the Ganges River, dividing a succession of contrasting images, demons, and negative things representing the dark side. However, the arrangement of such images and stories is loose, as is the concept of rebirth and death, which interact slightly. Eventually, those photographs and stories will be read and improved and transformed into something new.
Photo: Surawit Boonjoo
The book was produced in hardback in limited quantities of 200 copies, with cover typography by female photographer Kamonlak Sukchai and print design by Pariwat Anantashina, a graphic designer whose work is characterized by digital collages that combine photos and tales into a visual representation. Some of the images from the book’s collection of works were previously shown in the photography exhibition of the same name at HOP Hup of Photography from February 11 to April 9, 2023, with the series of photographs arranged continuously throughout the book without using words.
Photo: mongjeng
Kantrapee intended to convey this city’s appeal by portraying its inhabitants’ customs, which are linked and driven by a philosophy firmly established in Indian society and culture at its core. The images in the book illustrate the incorporation of the supernatural into the daily lives of people, animals, and objects, as well as ancient Vedic beliefs and the caste system that lends the city its distinct character. As a result, the book depicts the rhetoric of the dialog between faiths, people, animals, and objects in this hallowed city in a unique and fascinating way.