Gene Mahasmut

I first met Gene nearly twenty years before this portrait session, at a house party. We shared a group of friends, mostly musicians and artists. At the time, Gene was starring in the cult film Mahanakorn (Citizen Dog), modelling, and playing music in what would later become Little Fox, his solo project. While I was starting my teaching career, I discovered that his sister was one of my students, one of those coincidences that seemed to happen often in Bangkok’s relatively small creative community.

Our paths crossed several times over the years. He performed at venues I liked to visit, and around a decade before our May 2025 shoot he moved to Chiang Mai, feeling that the Bangkok scene was no longer what it used to be. His life shifted again when he met his wife and later became a father, gradually building a new life in the North.

When we reconnected, Gene invited me to a place he liked about ten kilometres north of the city, a small village with a coffee shop beside the Ping River. After so long apart, it was difficult to concentrate fully on the photography. I was more interested in catching up, hearing about his life and his continuing relationship with music. With his guitar over his shoulder, we talked about composing. Gene told me that writing songs had become easier when he was less distracted by the demands of performing at venues.

As we walked, we came across an empty house that had survived the severe floods of November 2024. The dirt left behind had dried and cracked across the floor. Gene’s own studio, also near the river, had been badly damaged by the flooding. He sat inside the empty house where the light filtered through, calm and composed, almost as quiet as the space around him.

Later, riding my bike back through town, I thought about how Chiang Mai had reshaped the lives of so many friends who had moved there, and wondered whether I might fall in love with the city again.