kare dum

- The different one; the weird one.

For my ever-handsome grandfather and my uncle who never seems to stop dreaming.

My uncle was a monk for 25 years.

He joined with the majority of his friends but no one stayed as long as him. His friends grew tired of their studies and decid-ed to start living their own life rather than to dedicate it to the Buddhist religion. My uncle didn’t want to give up, he was far too ambitious to leave school behind.

After 25 years had passed, he realized that he could never be as good as he wanted to be and instead he ended up envying all of his friends who had built a family during the time he had spent in the temple. Nowadays, he spends all of his waking hours trying to travel back in time, become young again and discover the time to do all those things which he missed out on.

It tears him apart, knowing that everything he believed in for 25 years has been a lie and it kills him to be alone.

I understand him more than he can imagine.

“my uncle in the steam sauna, trying to age backwards and travel back in time to become younger”

“baby catfish”

“my mother looking through my uncle’s photo album”

“during monsoon season, my grandfather digsbarricading ditches to stop flooding water”

“my grandfather home, after a trip to the farm”

“grandpa making an appointment to talk with his dead wife”

“the village monk on home visits”

“my mother and her butterfly tattoo’s, she’s always loved butterflies, she believes it’s a good sign to see one

and thinks they’re spirits with a message”

The End

Special Thanks

Kiko Seiz, Katarina Bergman, Magnus Rosshagen, Per Englund, Emilia Bergmark-Jiménez, Ruang Phothisai,

Calle Hagerström

and all the people who made the photographs possible.

cargocollective/SYLPHOcargocollective/kiko

First Edition

Copyright © Sylvia Phothisai 2011Photography Sylvia Phothisai

Book Design Kiko SeizISBN 978-91-633-8078-5