Most of the people he photographs are part of what he terms the \u201cfoundations\u201d of the city\u2019s financial ecosystem \u2013 the ones who \u201ccarry the weight\u201d. He tells Dazed, \u201cThey are the motorcycle taxi drivers, street vendors, construction workers, cleaners, teenagers trying to survive, people working jobs that keep the city moving but are rarely acknowledged. They are essential to Bangkok, yet they\u2019re often the people who receive the least. Many earn very little despite working incredibly hard. Some grow up without proper education. Some don\u2019t know who their parents are. Some don\u2019t even know their own birthday. These aren\u2019t exceptional stories; they exist quietly around us every day.\u201d<\/p>\n
Taking portraits of people subsisting on the city\u2019s margins, Waikawee\u2019s encounters with this elusive spirit of youthfulness are unpredictable and surprising. \u201cI\u2019ve met 20-year-olds whose eyes already looked exhausted, as if hope had quietly disappeared. And I\u2019ve met people in their 70s whose eyes were still full of light \u2013 they still carried hope; they still had this unstoppable drive, as if there was something out there worth discovering. Many of the people in my photographs are like that. Some are approaching the end of their lives, but they still enjoy getting dressed, laughing, meeting people, and living with curiosity.\u201d<\/p>\n Living with curiosity is one of the important tenets of Waikawee\u2019s philosophy of youthfulness. It\u2019s also one of the principal qualities that distinguishes his work as a photographer. He is fascinated by people, and by Bangkok itself. While he doesn\u2019t \u201cchase dramatic moments\u201d or go hunting for \u201cthe perfect shot\u201d, he does immerse himself in the life of the city. His street photographs don\u2019t have the detached, clandestine quality of Walker Evans, who used a concealed camera to take pictures of subway riders, or Jeff Mermelstein, known for his stealthy close-ups of strangers\u2019 text messages as they use their phones in public. Waikawee\u2019s portraits suggest something reciprocal between the photographer and the people he photographs. One portrait in particular \u2013 of a boy sipping Coca-Cola from a bag \u2013 conveys the strong sense of an exchange. He is staring straight at us, the viewer, via Waikawee\u2019s lens, with a rebellious, engaged gaze. \u201cThere was something in his eyes that I still can\u2019t explain,\u201d the photographer recalls \u201cHope. Curiosity. A quiet determination.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s an old Thai saying, \u2018If you want to find a tiger cub, you have to enter the tiger\u2019s cave.\u2019 I\u2019ve always believed photography begins the same way. If you want to understand someone\u2019s life, you have to be willing to step into their world,\u201d the photographer tells us. \u201cMy mother once told me something I\u2019ll never forget. She said my photographs look as if they were taken by someone the people already knew. I think that\u2019s one of the greatest compliments I\u2019ve ever received.\u201d<\/p>\n His portraits are brimming with life \u2013\u00a0the back of a truck teaming with workers, posed in a perfect tableau amid the rear lights of mopeds on the road at night; a young couple with their new baby, brimming with love and pride. Waikawee has a roving eye for idiosyncrasy, humour, irony and style. By his own admission, Bangkok \u201chas never tried to become a perfect city\u201d, but it\u2019s the perfect landscape for his work. He cherishes what others might regard as its imperfections. \u201cFor me, Bangkok isn\u2019t just a city. It\u2019s a living organism,\u201d he explains. \u201cWhat fascinates me most are its contradictions. In Bangkok, you might see a homeless person sleeping outside the Grand Palace. A sex worker standing just outside a Buddhist temple. A monk walking past a beer bar. A billionaire collecting sacred Buddhist amulets while someone with almost nothing donates their last savings to a temple.\u201d<\/p>\n Waikawee\u2019s portraits recognise his subjects\u2019 resilience, their pride and their incredible personal style, such as one particularly memorable picture of a punk with an impressive pink mohawk so high he has to drive with the sunroof open. \u201cMy photography doesn\u2019t give people dignity. It simply recognises something that has always been there,\u201d he says. \u201cI photograph people who refuse to give up. People who continue living, no matter how difficult life becomes. Many of them have every reason to complain, but they don\u2019t. They don\u2019t ask for sympathy. They don\u2019t expect the world to become fair. They\u2019re simply grateful that today they\u2019re still alive. They\u2019re still breathing. They survived another day. To me, that\u2019s a kind of courage we rarely celebrate. That\u2019s the courage I want to remember.\u201d<\/p>\n Youth<\/a> is running at Graces Mews gallery, London, until 19 September 2026.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/a>
![\"Chardchakaj](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/1450866.jpeg\")
Untitled (Woman in Green Dress), 2008-2020Courtesy of Chardchakaj Waikawee and Graces Mews.<\/p>\n<\/a>
![\"Chardchakaj](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/1450873.png\")
Untitled (Mohawk and Mercedes), 2008-2020Courtesy of Chardchakaj Waikawee and Graces Mews.<\/p>\n