A question of definition

 Award-winning Australian photographer Patrick Brown brought his own definition of “Hope” to Bangkok’s Jam Factory last week, with the opening of his exhibition as part of the Photo Bangkok Festival.

To him, “Hope” has both positive and negative meanings. “The simple act of saying, ‘I hope to meet my friend this evening’, implies doubt that it will happen. I started to see hope and doubt as Yin and Yang. These two opposite elements, the contrast of good and evil, of right and wrong, fascinated me. Yet life isn’t simply a string of rights and wrongs and neither is it black or white. The grey area between the two is both the infinite and finite horizon of life,” he says. 

His pictures are centred on the vast open spaces of the Western Australia landscape, a place where “hope” and “doubt” collide, communicating the fragility of humanity. He captures places where positivity and hope are eclipsed by cruelty, insecurity and doubt.

His photos show a landscape has been abandoned by mankind, yet as deserted as the space is. it has emotions, it has life. Most of his previous works retain element of human interaction, presence, emotional implications and overtones such as his “Trade of Extinction” documentary photography, a major project on the illegal trade in endangered animals, which won a World Press Photo award in 2004 and a multimedia award from POYi in 2008. 

“Without emotions there can be no progress, no drive, and no ambition. We strive to survive through hope, and maybe a lack of hope leaves the door ajar for doubt to creep in. Maybe it is this fine balance between the two that shapes our destinies and gives us the strength to build on despair and joy in equal measure,” he says, adding that the images also attempt to send the important message that humans should take care of this world.

“It is hope that will keep us alive and we have to look after where we live,” he notes. 

His choice of Polaroid 665 film, which is on the brink of extinction, also gives a sense of singularity and generates a secondary moment of hope and doubt about the particular nature of Polaroid, its fading process and inability of reproduction. And to enrich an experience, the exhibition makes available the sound recorded from the actual places where the photographs were taken. 

Brown, who was born in Britain, raised in Australia and has been based in Bangkok for more than 15 years, has devoted himself to documenting critical issues across the Asia region. His work has won many awards, among them NPPA’s Best of Photojournalism Award and recognition from New York’s International Centre of Photography, the Metropolitan Museum of Photography and Visa pour I’lmage.

 

HOPE TO SEE IT