Socialization

“Man is by nature a social animal; an individual who is unsocial naturally and not accidentally is either beneath our notice or more than human. Society is something that precedes the individual. Anyone who either cannot lead the common life or is so self-sufficient as not to need to, and therefore does not partake of society, is either a beast or a god.”

— Aristotle, Politics

It’s already more than two centuries after the statement. Consequently, the way of human’s living has strongly demonstrated that man is a socialized being. They need to be grouped, to be connected, or to be in touch. The idea of being socialized has given not only while they are still living; but when they are already gone, in the manner to express their fear of being alone, also.

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Tikumporn Seneevat (1978), although my career is based on financial and banking; but I started my interested in all kinds of fine arts as my hobby since I was 12. I use arts as the tool to express my thought and my feeling. Earlier, I had been working on painting, poetry, and printing. Until I discovered the work “The Base of Siam” in 2006; it inspires me to pursue my work in photography. Nowadays, I either share my experience with people who interested in photography to improve our skill or intentionally working on photography to improve myself.

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L: Where are you from? What cities, and/or countries have you lived in –or what places have influenced you?

TS:  My home town is Nakhon sri thammarat; located in south of Thailand. I grew up in the family of teacher. My dad was an art teacher and he is the key influencer who drive me to work on any kind of art.

L: What is your earliest memory of photography?

TS:  Earlier I took photo as to apply it for my painting. Once I found “The Base of Siam”, it inspired me to explore and work on the art of photography.

L:  You photograph a wide variety of subjects in thematic series. Without giving away all of your professional secrets, could you tell us what goes into finding and producing a series?

TS:  While the world has developed into digital era, I realized the impact of socialization on human being. The man kind shows their lonely, joyful, happiness, and other expression through the social media. One reason behind those behavior is that human is made; maybe by god; to be in group. They cannot live alone. Consequently, I try to demonstrate this idea in my work and symbolically showing the tangible evidence on how much human need to be grouped.

Techniquely, each photo is the combination of two images in order to show the social network of human in both alive and after death period of man.

L: Your professional experience is first and foremost in banking and financial affairs, what traits from this background do you use in your photography, or can you find a connection between these skill sets? 

TS:  By working in digital banking, it gives me the opportunity to be able to share idea and observe my customers’ behavior on how they apply social media in their life style. In the meantime, I impress with how innovation can response and fulfill people need. One of the key success of social media is to close the gap of being apart and loneliness. I use my impression as the source to generate the series of photographic work.

Normally, I start my photographic work based on my impression and thought. I form the idea and then find the way to demonstrate it in my photos. So most of the idea come from my observation and sharing with my customers whom I contact with during my working time as the banker.

L:  Many of your series deal with the concept of humans as social beings. What inspires you the most about observing humans through your camera lens?

TS:  My customer indeed is the first source of my inspiration to work on this series. Later on, after my research to produce the series, people surround me and the environment of developing country; such as Thailand; intensify my idea and finally express it in my work.

L: Photography, and documentary photography in particular, is often a tool for telling stories. Do you have a story or message of your own that you sneak into your images, apart from the assigned story or obvious scene?

TS:  The more I work on photography, the more I encounter to the rejoicings. In short, I would say I am having fun with photo. Hence, I would put the joyfulness and dynamic feeling into my work. Hopefully everyone who see my work would enjoin and maybe get the feeling of curious with what hidden in my photos.

L: Could you list five or more words related to the work you are showing in Laatikkomo?

TS:  I think the perfect description related to my work had already been stated more than two centuries ago, ‘man is by nature a social animal…’.