Thitawan Jaemmangkang (Namwaa)

I had known Namwaa for years, but we had not seen each other for more than seven. When we first met, she had just finished studying printmaking and was preparing to move to Berlin for a master’s degree in exhibition design. After returning, she found that tattooing offered a more balanced way to organise her life and creative work.

For the portrait, she invited me to her tattoo studio in a quiet Sukhumvit soi. The wooden townhouse held a small, light-filled workspace upstairs. Before taking photographs, we spoke for a long time about life and art. She pointed out an etching on the wall, one she created for her thesis, which reminded me that the meticulous printmaking process feels closely related to tattooing.