Noah David bau
Portraits in Contemporary Photography 2013 & 2014
Selections from a Series: This Is My Body
This Is My Body is a series of impressionist documentary portraits of young professional Muay Thai boxers in Bangkok. I made the images over the past four years at a training camp in the city’s most notorious slum.
Most of the boys I photographed have been orphaned or neglected and discarded. Their sole means of survival depends upon their success in the ring and, consequently, the fitness of their bodies. The boys are subjected to grueling workouts in oppressive heat; their bodies endure brutal punishment; and they are trained to be ferocious and merciless. By the time they are in their early twenties, many of them will have compromised their physical and mental well being as a result of years of excessive training and countless savage bouts. All proceeds from their winning purses are used to maintain their squalid training camp and provide for meager sustenance.
I visited the camp every day for nearly a month before taking any photographs. As time passed, it became increasingly apparent these boys who reside at Thailand’s margins are at once admired and unwanted; savage and forlorn; innocent and jaded; cultivated and commodified. I was inspired to create this series to illuminate these contradictions. My aim is to deliver the viewer to the intersection of adolescence, commerce, beauty, and brutality.
Selections from a Series: This Is My Body
This Is My Body is a series of impressionist documentary portraits of young professional Muay Thai boxers in Bangkok. I made the images over the past four years at a training camp in the city’s most notorious slum.
Most of the boys I photographed have been orphaned or neglected and discarded. Their sole means of survival depends upon their success in the ring and, consequently, the fitness of their bodies. The boys are subjected to grueling workouts in oppressive heat; their bodies endure brutal punishment; and they are trained to be ferocious and merciless. By the time they are in their early twenties, many of them will have compromised their physical and mental well being as a result of years of excessive training and countless savage bouts. All proceeds from their winning purses are used to maintain their squalid training camp and provide for meager sustenance.
I visited the camp every day for nearly a month before taking any photographs. As time passed, it became increasingly apparent these boys who reside at Thailand’s margins are at once admired and unwanted; savage and forlorn; innocent and jaded; cultivated and commodified. I was inspired to create this series to illuminate these contradictions. My aim is to deliver the viewer to the intersection of adolescence, commerce, beauty, and brutality.
- PDN Curator Award – Portraits/Nudes – July 2013
- Exhibitor at New York Photo Festival 2012
- Arthur Griffin Legacy Award – Best in Show; 18th Annual Juried Exhibition – Griffin Museum of Photography - 2012
- Best of Show – “13, 75 lbs” – Americas 2013, Northwest Art Center, Minot State University, ND - 2013
- Honorable Mention Artist – Camera Club NY 2012 – Annual Juried Competition - 2012
- Photolucida Critical Mass Top 50 - 2012
PURCHASING INFORMATION
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"13, 73 lbs."
40” x 32” AP 1 of 2 (edition of 15) Archival Pigment Print Framed $2,500 | Print $1,800 |
"13, 82 lbs."
40” x 32” AP 1 of 2 (edition of 15) Archival Pigment Print Framed $2,500 | Print $1,800 |
"14, 109 lbs."
40” x 32” AP 1 of 2 (edition of 15) Archival Pigment Print Framed $2,500 | Print $1,800 |
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"14, 86 lbs"
50” x 40” Edition 1 of 3 Archival Pigment Print Framed $3,200 | Print $2,400 |
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All prints are available 20"x16" in editions of 25 starting at $600.00
Please contact Drift Gallery at 603-379-6560 to inquire about availability.
Please contact Drift Gallery at 603-379-6560 to inquire about availability.
