Michael Shaowanasai, Thailand
From "Life of Women" series 00-08

To me, history and the present are literally walking together hand in hand. The future is not yet known to us, but we can shape it with the knowledge of the past, along with the conscious knowledge of the very moment we are in. Photography provides liberty for artists to produce the likeness of our being, to move one step closer to reality as we are able to comprehend it.

My body of work is the chronicle ofmy existence as affected by the ripples of history. In many cases, I created a question as the answer to the question that we had dared to ask. It is a never-ending task. As long as we have freedom, we ought to spend that freedom wisely. Creating images is only one of the tools I employ, and hope that the ripples that they create will reach others and the cycle will continue onwards.

With the ever-rapid changes in technology, i have shifted my focus from the technical aspects of making images to what will be in the images. Similar to the art of writing, no matter what form they take, be it a story, a poem, a script or letter, I hope that the reader or viewer will be eager to read or look into what I am going to say, rather than the "spectacle" of the images. Not all will agree with me, or want to listen to my story, but being an artist, one of our duties is to speak out about what we are thinking. Eventually, someone will come along, and reach out his or her hand to touch you and say, "Thank you", or, simply slap you in the face.

That is a delicate balance that am enduring, and I love every minute of it.

Michael Shaowanasai.
Krung Thep, Thailand. Winter 2008-2009.