Our Thursday series features must-read books from each branch of the art bookshop NADiff. This week's book is "Apichatpong Weerasethakul: Ghosts." It's introduced by NADiff BAITEN, the museum shop located inside the Tokyo Photographic Art Museum in Ebisu, Tokyo (2nd floor, Tokyo Photographic Art Museum, Ebisu Garden Place, 1-13-3 Mita, Meguro-ku, Tokyo).
■ "Apichatpong Weerasethakul: Ghosts" Apichatpong Weerasethakul, Tokyo Photographic Art Museum
--Whether we are awake or asleep, we contain many beings, constantly changing and fluctuating. When I wake up in the morning, I eagerly write down my dreams. I want to find out who I was during the night. --Apichatpong Weerasethakul (from the text)
Many may know his name from the film "Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives," which won the Palme d'Or at the 2010 Cannes Film Festival. Apichatpong Weerasethakul is a film director and contemporary artist whose work has been exhibited at art museums around the world and at art festivals such as the Yokohama Triennale.
Set in his native Thailand, his works combine the realism of the images, featuring actual people living there, with unrealistic stories of "ghosts" and "dreams," creating a mysterious, floating feeling, like a daydream.
His solo exhibition, "Apichatpong Weerasethakul: Ghosts," currently on view at the Tokyo Photographic Art Museum, is comprised of installations, short films, and photographs. Motifs such as light, shadow, fire, hospitals, and family evoke the process of creating his films. This book serves as the exhibition's official catalog. A written statement by Apichatpong himself is included at the end of the book, in which he talks about dreams he has had, his childhood in Thailand, his family, and more, making it seem as if he is watching a film based on his memories. It also includes reviews by well-known figures such as Inuhiko Shimoda and Atsushi Sasaki, making it a very satisfying read. This is a book that you should definitely pick up along with the film and exhibition.
[Book Information]
"Apichatpong Weerasethakul: Ghosts"
Author: Apichatpong Weerasethakul, Tokyo Photographic Art Museum
Publisher: Kawade Shobo Shinsha
Language: Japanese and English
197 pages / 210 x 231 mm
Published: December 2016
Price: 2,400 yen
