Underage

Underage is an award-winning photographic documentation aimed at understanding the minds of underage male prostitutes in Thailand in a most candid and visceral way. Photographer Ohm Phanphiroj uncovers the life, choice, and consequences that these young boys are experiencing. Underage prostitution results from several reasons, from being molested by family members and/or relatives, poverty, being a runaway, and drug addiction. In his book, he juxtaposes street light lit portraits of boys with biographical facts such as their age, reason for working the streets, number of customers, and aspirations. Thailand has long been known as the sex capital of Asia, and according to a survey in 2004, there are approximately 800,000 underage prostitutes in Thailand in a trade worth 4.3 billion baht per year or three percent of the Thai economy. This alarming number has put Thailand on the top of the list of underage sexual exploitation according to the U.N. Underage is multi-layered and complex in its nature. Psychologically, the documentary photography book offers provocative and haunting portraits of these lost souls. The visual is visceral and represents the ugly mess that is the manifestation of deep-rooted problems concerning family, teenage years in Thailand, and society. The personal data of each subject is included to offer an insight or a peep into their lives and journey to the opposite side of normalcy, tradition, and perception. In addition, sexual identification and orientation are being questioned and investigated. While all subjects identify themselves as heterosexual young boys who come to terms with having sex with gay guys for money, most of them have never had sex with females. Many of them reason that all men must go through having sex with gay guys in order to understand how to have sex with females when such time comes. Phanphiroj lets the images act as a mirror reflecting the rotten reality of child abuse and exploitation. They pose painful questions about life, choice, consequences, and of humanity. Underage aims at shedding light on this pervasive situation, raising questions about society, corruption, morals, and human treatment. Underage has been exhibited worldwide, among others at Newspace Center for Photography (2011), Sommerblut International Art Festival (2011), Noordelicht Photo Festival (2012), The Kinsey Institute (2013), Tally Beck Contemporary (2014), Miami Art Festival (2014), and Documentary Arts Asia (2014). The photographic project received multiple awards, i.e. Lightwork (2012), Newspace Center for Photography (2012), Documentary Arts Asia (2014), Columbia College fellowship (2015), Noor-Nikon (2015), Society for Photographic Education (2015)."
Award-winning, deeply shocking, and moving: Underage is a documentary photography book about underage male prostitutes in Thailand. Photographer Ohm Phanphiroj created it in order to raise awareness about sexual exploitation against minors."
Ohm Phanphiroj is an award-winning international photographer, filmmaker, and educator. Bangkok-born and a U.S. citizen, Ohm splits his time between Atlanta, Chicago, NYC, and Bangkok. Ohm s works deal with controversial issues, including sexuality, identity, gender roles, human mistreatment, exploitation, and the contemporary male nude. A former fashion director at Esquire and Qr Magazine, Ohm s professional experiences include his work as a gallery director, fashion photographer, filmmaker, legal consultant, and professor. Ohm holds five graduate degrees: an MFA in Imaging Arts from Rochester Institute of Technology; an MFA in Photography from Memphis College of Art; an MA in Filmmaking from Georgia State University; an MA in Communication from the University of Northern Iowa; and a law degree from Thammasat University, Thailand. Ohm has participated in more than one hundred exhibitions internationally, including the Iran Biennale 2016, Moscow Biennale 2014, Noorderlicht International Photo Festival 2012, Sommerblut Art Festival 2011, Leslie-Lohman Museum of Gay and Lesbian Art, The Kinsey Institute, Bangkok Cultural Museum, Tally Beck Contemporary of Art, and H Gallery. Ohm has received many international prestigious awards, including fellowships from Columbia College Chicago, Lightwork, Newspace Center for Photography, Nikon, Sony World Photography Award, Epson, Critical Mass, and Society for Photographic Education. Ohm s works are in the permanent collection at the Kinsey Institute, Lightwork, Indiana University, Emory University, Georgia State University, The School of Art Institute of Chicago, and in private collections throughout the world. Currently, Ohm is a professor of photography at Edna Manley School for Visual and Performing Arts in Kingston, Jamaica. He is also a recipient of the New Artist Society Fellowship at the School of Art Institute of Chicago, where he is working towards his MFA in Studio Art. Ohm is represented by Anzenberger, Austria. His works can be viewed at www.ohmphotography.com.
At first one does not want to look but then one cannot look away. Imposing no judgment, Ohm has captured these boys souls. These are photographs that are as seductive as they are tragic, as sensual as they are disturbing. His poetic eye has taken us to a very dark place, and has shown us that even in hell there is a kind of beauty. --S. P. Somtow, award-winning writer and c"