Pongnapak Fakseemuang (Gumpoong)

After a motorcycle ride under highways, past truck routes and through the narrow sois around Phra Khanong, I reached Gumpoong’s apartment. I had expected something darker, closer to the dystopian Bangkok of her night photography and the atmosphere of her music. Instead, her bedroom felt like a personal museum, filled with equipment, artworks and fashion accessories she uses when performing.

Gumpoong works across photography and music, with a background in landscape architecture. During the shoot, she showed me photographs from an earlier exhibition and projects she had developed during the pandemic. She is comfortable using new technologies, including generative processes, but still prefers to write songs and plan ideas by hand on paper.

Over coffee, we talked about the idea of an artistic persona. I asked whether the singer I saw on stage was a constructed character. She rejected the distinction. The different parts of her work and personality might appear contradictory from outside, but for Gumpoong they all belong to the same person.