Ohm Phanphiroj - Underage

OHMUNDERAGE PHANPHIROJ

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I dedicate this book to the lost and never found, the dreamers and the believers, myself and all of those in a struggle to understand the purpose and the meaning of living, and to those who are working towards making the world better than it is.

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CONTENT 6

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LOOKING IN THE DARK CORNERS

THE EERIE LIGHT OF PROSTITUTION

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OHM PHANPHIROJ'S UNDERAGE

DREAM NO DREAM: UNDERAGE STORY

INTRODUCTION BY HUNTER O'HANIAN

FOREWORD BY BRIAN CURTIN

FOREWORD BY DENIS DEFIBAUGH

ESSAY BY OHM PHANPHIROJ & ROBERT L. MCBATH JR.

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SERIES UNDERAGE

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

126 BIOGRAPHY OF OHM PHANPHIROJ

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LOOKING IN THE DARK CORNERS HUNTER O'HANIAN Art can change lives. However, like other facts of life, it is not always given the opportunity to reach its full potential.

Many artists seek to have their work mean something profound—but more often than not, either they miss the mark or fail to find a way to reach those who can effect change. Without question, the work of Ohm Phanphiroj never misses its mark and clearly impacts the world around him.

Child prostitution in Thailand goes back to the fifteenth century. It is alive and well today. It is considered to be a significant contributor to the local economy. Western men travel to the area to connect with women and men of an age that many in their own communities would consider incapable of providing consent—especially in a sexual context.

In many cases, these men are not able to have similar sexual relationships in their own countries, as local laws strictly prohibit sexual contact with “underage” individuals. Thankfully, most societies outlaw sexual relations with people under a certain age. It is considered so taboo that if an adult is found guilty of having sex with an underage person, years of imprisonment can follow as well as a lifetime of societal banishment.

We live in such a male-dominated, sexist society that we generally think about prostitution only in terms of women. However, male prostitution dates back to the Old Testament. It was prevalent in ancient Greek and Roman times—a period when business models allowed male brothels to survive. There is no question that gay men in the twentieth century, and certainly up to the present time, have discovered ways to connect in a commercial setting. It seems clear, however, that over the centuries, male prostitution has been more prevalent in Eastern societies, including, Afghanistan, India, Japan, and elsewhere.

Today, Thailand is considered to have the world’s worst record for the sex trafficking of children. Some studies suggest that nearly ten percent of the prostitutes in the country may be underage. Many face serious

health threats. Drug abuse is not uncommon. Although the United Nations has acknowledged the problem and sought ways to solve it, because many do not want to even acknowledge its existence; there are few resources to help those in need.

Since its inception, photography has played a role in understanding such social problems that our culture seeks to avoid. Danish-born artist Jacob Riis (1849–1914) was a New York–based reporter who found that he could effect change by documenting the living conditions of children and the poor in the tenements and factories of Manhattan’s lower east side. He sought to show his contemporaries (and document for all time) the crime-filled conditions that existed while refined cultural institutions thrived only a few blocks away. He documented life in New York’s tenements at the time when the infant mortality rate was as high as ten percent. He showed us poor, dirty, children, clothed only in rags, living in squalor. These children worked in sweatshops, lived in horrific conditions, and were paid only a pittance. They were often made to work in unsafe and unhealthy conditions. This virtual enslavement was designed to increase the financial profits for the owners of local mills and factories. And the government did little to improve these victims’ lives. It was not until the public saw Riis’s images that government officials knew something had to change, and child labor laws and minimum housing regulations came into vogue— laws that we take for granted today and which in part define us as a civilized society.

Just a few decades later, in the 1930s, Dorothea Lange (18951965) photographed Americans in the Midwest who suffered from the ravages of the Great Depression, drought and starvation. It was a time when the United States’ workforce was cut by a quarter.

Industrial production was cut in half. For the first few years, especially under the administration of President Herbert Hoover, the federal government seemed unable to reduce the human suffering evident on nearly every street corner of America. Hundreds of thousands of

people were homeless and walked the streets looking for shelter or a morsel of food.

Documenting the breadlines in San Francisco, Lange took her work to the streets to show the horrific side of the economic tragedy. Sad children, and even sadder parents, found themselves in circumstances denying them a decent life. Many lived in camps not much better than life on the streets. Through her images, society saw decimated lives and vanquished spirits. Much of her work was commissioned by the US government Depression-era project, the Farm Security Administration, designed to eradicate poverty in rural America in part by exposing the problem to a wider audience. It was believed that if people saw the tragic consequences of certain lives, public policy makers might do something about it. Although her work was so powerful and intentionally designed to effect change, for decades many individuals—including Lange herself—were unable to view the work.

Born in Bangkok in 1980, Ohm artfully seeks to reveal the conditions he finds in his homeland. Ohm’s images of the underaged lurk in the darkened corners of a part of the world that we often ignore. He asks us to travel to places some of us would rather not go. His work is not designed to titillate but exists as a way to see a problem in search of an achievable solution. Like children cast aside in the Lower East Side, or the expanse of a dustbowl on a Texas plain, the subjects of Ohm’s Thailand streets are difficult to see. Gazing at these images allows us to learn the stories of these youths, better understanding what can happen when society intentionally chooses to ignore a segment of its population.

Simultaneously, we look away and then are quickly compelled to see more. We want to look into their eyes and understand what they have seen. We want to know the conditions of their lives. We want to know what is in their hearts and minds. We want to know how they will survive. We see in their sad faces the realization that despite their youth or lack of opportunity, they know the possibility exists for a better life.

Similarly, artists sought to add a human face to those who were dying of AIDS in the 1980s. It was a time when the government of President Ronald Reagan deliberately chose to ignore the effect AIDS had on the gay male population in the United States. Without question, some public officials and religious leaders believed gay men to be dispensable—considering a new disease that threatened to wipe out gay people to be a good thing. Artists like Peter Hujar (1934–1987) and David Wojnarowicz (1954–1992) made work in the 1980s that showed the human side of people who were affected by AIDS and what it meant to willfully ignore exploring treatments and searching for a cure. Their work, like that of so many others, helped to make changes in the way people thought about AIDS and its treatment in the 1990s and beyond.

These images are not here for our entertainment—in fact they should make us feel uncomfortable. Despite the beauty of the compositions, each rich in color and natural settings, generations of heartache and despair are evident. While other children are safe in school or have the comfort of a supportive home, these kids are living in cardboard boxes, turning tricks on street corners. One can only hope that upon seeing these images, governments will work to repeal the conditions that allow them to exist.

Of equal importance to these artists, Ohm Phanphiroj seeks to reveal the horrific lives of underage youth who are forced to take to the streets in Thailand, earning a meager living to help support themselves and their families. Ohm uses his finely honed craft to make a difference.

The artist has made the work and shown it to us. The rest is up to society.

The children shown in Ohm’s photographs are human beings just like us.

They need to be respected. Ohm depicts them in positive, respectful, and simple settings. He bravely makes work that challenges our idea about power and who gets to use it.

New York, 2016

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OHM PHANPHIROJ'S UNDERAGE BRIAN CURTIN Svay Pak is a district in northern Phnom Penh, Cambodia, that is known by those who pay for certain pleasures on offer as “kiddies’ corner.” A Wikipedia entry prosaically describes the place as “an infamous center of child prostitution.” The copious writing about this particular site of the so-called sex industry inevitably carries an ambivalent aura: No matter how condemnatory the reportage, the information available could be read as a map for those who are intent on using the services on offer, including implicit tips on how to avoid the detection of NGOs and police.

Other widely known centers and populations of child prostitution include Sri Lanka, Brazil, Thailand, and the Inuit of Canada.

Ohm Phanphiroj is one of any number of photographers who has pointed his lens at these worlds defined by abuse and exploitation.

But his images suggest an alluring exceptionality, possessing a sleazily disquieting rhetoric in spite of his use of a very familiar convention: the centrality of the figure of the “prostitute.” This convention quickly signals a common humanist sentiment in drawing attention to individual experience and raising questions about our relationship to such. The photographs don’t address structural conditions that allow and continue to support this type of existence and perhaps therefore suggest they couldn’t. The implications, however, of our relationship to exploited and vulnerable figures are heightened by the fact that the subjects of the photographs are indeed underage, of an age we attribute to innocence or the birth—not the agency, of desire. The disquieting rhetoric of Underage is also in the fact that the figures are male, while sex work is typically represented as a distinctly female or feminine practice, or perhaps the series affirms a stereotype of Thailand and the tedium of our own ultimate indifference to this murky world. The photographs could be considered overly artful, given their contentious subject matter, or even artless in their apparent registration of the fact of these kids’ lives but avoidance or any clear commentary.

When first exhibited in Bangkok in 2010, the critical issue of the identities of the subjects of Underage was urgent. A child protection agency contacted the gallery and requested future notice prior to such an exhibition. Moreover, the city’s districts on view are recognizable. This is a sharp contextual concern but one that doesn’t highlight or reveal the central challenge of shaping the significance of Underage. As my opening paragraph suggests, any representation of a highly stigmatized, morally transgressive and illegal activity will shape an ambiguity in the inevitable tensions emerging from exposure and indictment. The history of photographs of prostitution tells us such. But this is a fact that often, or usually, escapes discussion. Even the most cursory survey of such photography reveals a commonality in this regard, and more besides.

Take, for example, Miguel Candela’s series of photographs (2011–2012) of daily life in a brothel in Dhaka, Bangladesh. The women’s bodies are seen applying makeup, lounging, waiting, and engaged in rhetorically ambiguous scenarios with men against dilapidated backdrops. Some stare intently at the camera or with forced smiles, a familiar gesture in images of the dispossessed. Beautifully composed with gorgeous colors, seductiveness washes over the gritty lives. Kaveh Golestan’s prostitute series from Iran in the 1970s comparably possess a filmic quality because of the seeming inescapability of extant codes, conventions and the lure of the aesthetic. The black and white “reality” of the impoverished environments in which the hookers dwell is haunted by a queer romanticism of social marginality and community. With Darkness in the Light (2011–), Dave Jordano proposes a vague ethnography of daytime streetwalkers in Detroit as the women stand frontally for his camera, poignant in their shabby, tarty clothes and otherwise communicating with mostly indifferent facial expressions. Jordano wrote that he aims to break down stereotypes of sex workers but we might quickly wonder about the paradox of naming or labeling a class of people and then asking us to forget that designation, as it were.

Underage foregrounds the creepy problems of not knowing quite how to look at such photography or decide what moral or ethical boundary has been or might be crossed. Phanphiroj achieves this because of the exceptional vulnerability of the people he photographs. We can recognize this vulnerability in the strained and sometimes pathetic attempts of the youth to embolden the desires of their clients. And also in Phanphiroj’s coy insistence that we, too, view the kids as their clients might, as available and easily possessed objects of desire. The lushness of the colors of the series places the kids in a time and space that is comparable to our own—hence the exchange of their gazes is immediate and compelling; the series also holds an art-historical luminosity that renders them delectably timeless.

There is, however, a strangely reduced significance at the heart of Underage. After all, and like the examples I discussed above, we need the caption in order for the photographs to truly make sense. There are no signs of prostitution as such in the mise-en-scene; we have to, if we choose, seek out those signs on the bodies and the gestures of the kids.

This, too, is disturbing, but it allows us a profound contemplation of power and powerlessness, not—as much photography is wont to encourage—an opportunity to merely acknowledge social or economic disparities. This achievement is in Phanphiroj’s acute understanding of photography as photography, an understanding of the impossibility of the medium to essentially ameliorate disgusting aspects of the world we live in.

Brian Curtin is an Irish-born art critic and curator based in Bangkok.

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THE EERIE LIGHT OF PROSTITUTION DENIS DEFIBAUGH There are many reasons for photographers to generate documentary images. First and foremost, these photographers are inspired to tell the story. Basically, these stories fall into a few basic topics in a broad range of specific topics: to make people aware of social issues, unique subjects, places and people. The Underage photographs delve into the social issues of exploitation and injustice. The goal of the photographer is to make people aware of the problems that confront the less fortunate young boys of Thailand. The ultimate goal of instigating change is driven by a personal view of the problem.

As one looks through Ohm Phanphiroj’s photo essay it is readily understood the commonality of each boy that is photographed.

Either by choice, by coincidence, or because many boys of similar stature become part of this culture, it is obvious that this is a common phenomenon in the streets and alleys of Bangkok. Each photograph emphasizes the similarities of each boy. Most are shirtless, similar age, and comparable body type. This connected gestalt increases the power of Underage.

While similarity and continuity are an impactful aspect of this documentary series, there is indeed the perception of identity with each individual portrait that humanizes and personalizes their plight.

The boys exude a street-smart sense and defiance beyond their age, yet underneath that façade their innocent, hopeless attitudes hide the sense of a lost childhood. Ohm’s choice to photograph the boys minus the clients implies they could be ordinary boys if not for the situations or context they are faced with.

Each boy’s gaze is galvanized by the disturbing and uncomfortable quality of light gained from the combined blue, orange, green hue of fluorescents, quartz halogen, neon, and various street light color casts.

We see the barren Bangkok streets that earlier in the day were bustling with shoppers, workers, and boys going to and from school. Yet these

views are taken at the quiet end of working hours for the boys in the moody empty streets of late night. Each detailed photograph presents a biography of the boy.

As is mentioned in the introduction, these boys are basically born into prostitution and exploited as early in their life as possible.

Their situation in Thailand is perpetuated by an unending number of customers and the unpublicized sex trade that brings numerous tourists to Thailand. There is a connection between Ohm and the subject as if each boy is sharing his story in this collaboration. Each story is similar—almost parallel—in a way that adds credence to the plight of each boy. A singular experience in each photo that suggests a particularly lonely existence.

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DREAM NO DREAM: UNDERAGE STORY OHM PHANPHIROJ & ROBERT L. MCBATH JR. The fear. It’s almost palpable. It is one of the first things that you notice when you meet these boys, especially as you are in a car with a companion or two (for protection, a very sensible precaution). You are, of course, unknown to them, like the many men who cruise the streets at night, after the palaces and temples and other tourist attractions are emptied, wanting to pick up boys and pay them a pittance to have sex. It seems that the boys are everywhere, as indeed they are—not only in the streets of Bangkok, but in other places in Thailand that attract sex tourists— Chiang Mai, Pukhet, Pattaya, and many others as well. Naturally, there are many kinds of sex tourists in Thailand’s sizable and well-established sex industry, which annually brings in billions in revenue from men—and quite a number of women, too—who seek to slake their sexual urges with the readily available supply of men, women, transvestites, and transgender who openly ply their trade. Prostitution is illegal in Thailand, but laws against it are seldom enforced, except in unusually egregious cases, and the police generally turn a blind eye, as well they might, since many are often in the pay of the procurers, pimps, bar, and sex massage parlor owners who make their living selling the flesh of other human beings.

But here we refer not to consensual sex between adults, but rather to the traffic in underage boys, although, of course, there is an even larger market for underage girls. The subject is a most depressing one, especially when you view it firsthand. There is a certain relief discernable in those eyes when the boy finds out you will pay him 250 baht (about US $7.75) just for talking about himself and having his picture taken. And there is great distrust, too—as there should be, considering the violence and abuse that frequently come hand-in-hand with bought sex. The adult who merely wants to talk rather than have sex is felt, justifiably, to be as suspect as the “johns” who buy his flesh. And there is always the fear.

Where do these boys come from, and why are they on the streets so late at night? Do they not have parents to look after them? What about school and getting an education—is that not a concern?

The answers vary, but there is a common thread of despair running through all their stories—a sort of leitmotif of poverty, misery, and alienation unique to all, a song of sorrow that bears examination. Most of the sex workers come from the countryside in north or northeast Thailand, but others come from other parts of the country as well, and, of course, from the slums that any large town or city has. When growing up in the countryside, these boys all know that they one day they may be drafted into the military. That’s in the future, however. Making money is the immediate concern, and in the impoverished countryside there are scant opportunities for work. Of the three children we focus on here, as well as many other kids we’ve interviewed, many come from broken homes and live with a single parent, who in turn is often out of work and for whom the young boy is simply another mouth to feed with scarce or non-existent resources. Education is not mandatory— the kids can get a free education, but there are no consequences to the parents if they don’t go to school. Often the only answer is to send the boys to an urban center where there is a demand for child sex—thus the boy can send a part of his earnings home to support the family.

There are no other ways of making a living—there are simply no jobs, especially for children. Prostitution is the only viable answer.

So, what happens? The parents may just put the kid on the train into Bangkok (or wherever) to sell himself. If there is some money available, the boys are bought a one-way ticket—if not, they illegally hop on a train without a ticket going anywhere, away from their home town, then change to another train going to Bangkok. Child hoboes, bent for hell. If they are under twelve, they can ride the train free. (One of our subjects, Pond, is ten and just entered the sex trade; another, Game, is now fourteen but started out when he was ten.) Once arrived at the station, bewildered, confused; they have no money, so they are easily preyed upon by pimps, who always wait at the station looking for boys who have just arrived and, of course, are strangers to the city.

The pimps pick out the best-looking ones, have sex with them, and

train them to work the streets. The pimps take fifty percent of the boys’ nightly earnings. One pimp we interviewed said he has had sex with all the boys who work the Sanam Luang area, adjacent to the Grand Palace and Navy Headquarters. The boys are then in the pimps’ thrall—they are dependent on the pimp for food and shelter. If for whatever reason the pimp kicks the boy out, he literally has nowhere to go, and some of the boys are loners who work the streets for themselves.

Sometimes brothers are sent into the city by their parents. (Ball has two brothers who are underage male prostitutes.) If one brother is better looking than his sibling, the pimp will take him and leave the other brother to fend for himself or take him to the Grand Palace area and try to sell him to another pimp.

As we have noted, money is the over-riding reason for the boys to sell themselves for sex. It is of interest to note that all the boys say they are straight, but the Western concept of “straight” and “gay” is different from the way homosexuals are viewed in Thailand—the terms may be the same, but the meaning attached to them can be quite different.

Often boys who reach puberty don’t have much chance to have sex with girls in the places they come from, but sex with other boys and men is not unusual. For young teenage boys, this is true in most places around the world. Boys this age are horny, and sex with other boys is an easy sexual release. With guys, they reason, there is no emotional attachment, unlike with girls.

The men who pick up the boys will take them either to their hotel or to a sex motel. Many of the smaller and cheaper hotels will turn a blind eye to a man coming in with a young boy in tow, but not the nicer, more expensive ones, which usually have security and will not allow this type of behavior. But many “sex motels” abound. This is how they operate. A central driveway will be between two rows of enclosed parking spaces. The john pulls his car into a vacant one, and

the attendant on duty pulls a curtain over the opening so that the car—and its registration tags—cannot be seen. The entrance to the motel room is through the enclosed parking space. Then the john and the boy enter the room and have sex. The cheaper rooms are pretty plain—a bed and a bathroom, little else; for more money, rooms with amenities such as a television can be had. Sex between the john and the boy is sometimes anal sex, but more often oral sex, with the boy both giving and receiving, depending on the demands of his customer. Then the boy is paid and leaves. Most of the time, both will leave together.

If the john drives, he will drop the boy off where he was picked up. If not, the boy gets paid and leaves. The going rate for sex is generally between 200 and 500 baht (roughly between US $6.20 and 15.50), depending upon the service the john wants. These sex motels most of the time are connected with people in power (be it the police or the mafia), and the hotel operators usually pay money under the table to stay afloat and carry on this illegal business.

As we said, the three boys’ stories we now focus on are but examples of a number of others whom we are interviewing. Here are their litanies of despair.

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Ball is age sixteen, and has been working as a prostitute for five months, having served more than thirty johns. We see him seated on steps beneath a streetlight, the better that the johns cruising by can see him. He is from the Chaiyapoom province in the northeast. His parents are divorced; he has five siblings, of whom two are underage male prostitutes. One of these brothers, aged fifteen, hustles together with Ball. Occasionally they have three-way sex with a john. Ball had his first sexual experience at age thirteen with transsexuals. Like the others, he sells himself for money, so he can survive. Despite the fact that he says he has no dream, he would like to be an actor, but there is no way that this will happen, due to his lack of education. He says his sexual orientation is straight, and he has a girlfriend, whom he met at an internet café. Many of the boy prostitutes play video games at internet cafés, and they build up debts to the owners of these cafés who run up a tab for the usually penniless boys. Then to repay the café owner, they sell themselves or submit sexually to the owners of the cafés, who are usually gay.

Huddled beneath a lamppost by a klong [canal], Game is fourteen.

He is from Bangkok, where his parents are hawkers who sell food on the streets. Game has four siblings. He has been a prostitute for four years—that is, since he was ten, and has had more than 100 clients.

He works for the money, yet dreams of going into the military. But without an education—remember, he has been on the streets since he was ten—he will not go far in the army, even if he were some day to be drafted. This is unlikely, since like many of the other boys, Game has begun to sniff glue. This is a cheap and easy way to get high. In addition to the well-known neurological damage that sniffing glue can do to one’s body, his habit undoubtedly will lead to dependence on other drugs. He will learn this from other boys, since Game hangs out with older male hustlers, who also sniff glue. Notice that we do not say “older experienced hustlers”—having been on the streets for four years, he is as experienced as any other boy—likely, more so.

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Pond is ten years old. Seeing him, it seems incredible that such a waif could be the object of sexual desire. But he is, and he will be bought, again and again. For him, there is no other choice except to sell himself. His parents are divorced, and he lives with his mother, who is unemployed. She has a male friend who sexually molested Pond, and then forced him go out into the streets to sell his pitifully thin body.

When we met Pond, it was on a side street near the Grand Palace, right across from Navy Headquarters. By day this is a tourist spot— the Royal Grand Palace, Temple of the Emerald Buddha, Wat Po—at night, prostitutes old and young hang about, johns constantly cruise the street in cars looking for sex. Pond told us that as of the day we met him, he had worked as a prostitute for one day, and had had two clients. We took his picture that evening, and saw him on the streets the next night. When he saw us, Pond fled, returned with a stick and tried to hit us in the car. He ran away, but then came back with some older prostitutes (fifteen-ish) who threatened to beat us up.

One blocked the center of the street and tried to hit the car with the stick. The other prostitutes stayed on the sidewalk. We evaded them and sped away. We do not know why Pond saw fit to attack us, for presumably he knew we were not a threat to him. But obviously this was not his perception. Look again. This poor gamin has, at ten, an almost feral quality about him. With the sorry background of his short life, it is no wonder.

In sum, we observed that although the streets seem to be devoid of traffic in Game and Pond’s photos, in reality they are a beehive of illicit activity of the most heinous, appalling proportions. In addition to interviewing the boys and photographing them, we also interviewed some of the pimps who work the kids and a couple of the johns who prey on the children. Naturally the pimps and johns didn’t wish to be photographed, and it would not have been safe for us if we had, since many of the pimps have ties to the Thai underworld; throughout the history of prostitution worldwide, in any place where there exists organized crime, prostitution is ineluctably linked to it. From what we have gathered with conversations with the boys, pimps, and johns, we have learned about where many of the customers come from. Of course there are Thai pedophiles, but the overwhelming majority of the johns seem to come from out of the country—some from Japan and other Asian countries, but a predominantly large portion from Western countries, such as the United States, South America, and Europe. Interestingly, many of the pedophiles are from Germany and its surrounding countries, but having said that, no one country has a monopoly; all nations are represented in this most reprehensible, pernicious, and evil of trades.

Look at our three children’s eyes. There is of course the fear that we began with; but there is also a wariness, a distrust for their fellow human beings—it would indeed be astonishing if it were not so—and overriding it all, utter, utter hopelessness. There will be no escape for these kids—if they survive until they are eighteen, have kept their looks, and are not thoroughly drugged out, they may find work at one of the many go-go bars that cater to adult male clients in areas such as Patpong and Sukhumvit. But even this will be short-lived, for youth and sexual allure are fleeting things. One bar “go-go boy” who talked with one of us a couple of years ago in Patpong said he was thirty. His English was good, and he said that he’d been working as a go-go boy since he was eighteen. He allowed that he’d made enough

money to sustain himself, but added that at his age, his career as a male dancer was fast coming to an end. We have not seen him in the bars since then.

And thus the depraved trade goes on, and will continue to thrive, as long as the authorities turn a blind eye. And they will. The police are not very well paid, and as with our boys, money is money. The corruption fouls and infects everyone who touches it: government and university officials, teachers, physicians, prominent businessmen, the foreigners who continue to buy what others sell. The well-heeled and well-educated almost always survive unmolested—if caught, they can buy their way out. It is their victims, the boys, who are forever lost.

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Name: Chanon Sornsuebsin Nickname: Non Age: 15 D.O.B.: December 7, 1995 Sexual Orientation: Straight Hometown: Thonburi province Siblings: 3 (2 boys, 1 girl, all of which are prostitutes) Parents: Unemployed Length of prostitution: 5 months Clients: 40+ Reason for prostitution: Parents told him to come earn a living Dream: Military

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Name: Warayut Kwanyoo (AKA Janejira Laungthep) Nickname: Jane Age: 15 D.O.B.: January 25, 1995 Sexual Orientation: Lesbian Hometown: Sri Saket province Siblings: 8 Parents: Divorced. Never met father Length of prostitution: 2 months Clients: 10 Reason for prostitution: Money Dream: Being a man *The subject is a girl prostitutes as a boy. Was beated up once after John found out.

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Name: Parinya Luenpitak Nickname: Tent Age: 12 D.O.B.: May 28, 1998 Sexual Orientation: Straight Hometown: Nonthaburi Siblings: 7 (2 passed away) Parents: Unemployed Length of prostitution: 6 months Clients: 24 Reason for prostitution: Money Dream: Military

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Name: Warin Mangsin Nickname: Bas Age: 14 D.O.B.: November 12, 1995 Sexual Orientation: Straight Hometown: Bangkok Siblings: 3 Parents: Unemployed Length of prostitution: 1 week Clients: 8 Reason for prostitution: Money Dream: B-Boy dancer

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Name: Sirichote Sattrawut Nickname: Te Age: 10 D.O.B.: June 24, 2000 Sexual Orientation: Straight Hometown: Bangkok Siblings: 4 Parents: Divorced Length of prostitution: 3 days Clients: 4 Reason for prostitution: Money Dream: B-Boy dancer

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Name: Amornthep Makma Nickname: Tao Age: 16 D.O.B.: November 16, 1994 Sexual Orientation: Straight Hometown: Sra Kaew province Siblings: 1 Parents: Father, Akom, 40, unemployed. His mother passed away 10 years ago from car accident.

Clients: 30 Reason for prostitution: His father asked him to sell his body in order to send money home.

Dream: Military

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Name: Ballop Theeranon Nickname: Gap Age: 16 D.O.B.: May 31, 1994 Sexual Orientation: Straight Hometown: Bangkok Siblings: 3 Parents: Divorced. His father is a taxi driver, and his mother works at a day care center.

Length of prostitution: 3 weeks Clients: 30 Reason for prostitution: Money Dream: Military

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Name: Sarawut Pakdipan Nickname: Kao Age: 14 D.O.B.: May 30, 1996 Sexual Orientation: Straight Hometown: Nonthaburi Siblings: 4 Parents: Father works in a computer shop, Mother unemployed Length of prostitution: 2 years Clients: 80+ Reason for prostitution: Money to buy glue to sniff Dream: Chemist

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Name: Paradon Khunharm Nickname: Ball Age: 16 D.O.B.: November 15, 1994 Sexual Orientation: Straight Hometown: Chaiyapoom province Siblings: 5 (two of which are male underage prostitutes) Parents: Divorced. Length of prostitution: 5 months Clients: 30+ Reason for prostitution: Money Dream: No dream

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Name: Krissada Rittiplang Nickname: Ball Age: 14 D.O.B.: January 13, 1996 Sexual Orientation: Straight Hometown: Bangkok Siblings: 3 Parents: Merchants, live in Ubonrachathani province Length of prostitution: 2 years Clients: 60+ Reason for prostitution: Money Dream: Policeman

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Name: Bin (No last name) Nickname: Beer Age: 14 D.O.B.: He does not know his birth date Sexual Orientation: Straight Hometown: Surathani Siblings: 3 Parents: No parents (Raised by his grandfather) Length of prostitution: 2 days Clients: 4 Reason for prostitution: Grandfather kicked him out and he needed money Dream: News anchor

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Name: Parinya Cheupanya Nickname: Mad Age: 14 D.O.B.: November 14, 1996 Sexual Orientation: Straight Hometown: Bangkok Siblings: 4 Parents: Odd jobs Length of prostitution: 3 months Clients: 50 Reason for prostitution: Money Dream: Military

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Name: Prakit Kobkuea Nickname: Pond Age: 10 D.O.B.: August 27, 1999 Sexual Orientation: Straight Hometown: Bangkok Siblings: 2 Parents: Divorced, lives with his mother who is unemployed.

His mother’s friend molested him and told him to come sell his body to support the family.

Length of prostitution: 1 day Clients: 2 Reason for prostitution: Money Dream: No dream

p 44

Name: Jaturawit Ah-Konghan Nickname: Game Age: 14 D.O.B.: December 8, 1996 Sexual Orientation: Straight Hometown: Bangkok Siblings: 4 Parents: Sell street food Length of prostitution: 4 years Clients: 100+ Reason for prostitution: Money Dream: No dream

p 46

Name: Chaimongkol Changnoi Nickname: Bank Age: 16 D.O.B.: March 1, 1997 Sexual Orientation: Straight Hometown: Bangkok Siblings: 3 Parents: Divorced. Both are street food sellers.

Length of prostitution: 2 years Clients: 100+ Reason for prostitution: Money Dream: No dream

p 48

Name: Chairat Permdee Nickname: Big Age: 15 D.O.B.: February 24, 1995 Sexual Orientation: Straight Hometown: Bangkok Siblings: 3 Parents: Father is a Tuk Tuk (taxi) driver.

Mother is unemployed Length of prostitution: 1 year Clients: 60+ Reason for prostitution: Money Dream: No dream

p 50

Name: Worawit Ketkaew Nickname: Tu Age: 15 D.O.B.: March 15, 1995 Sexual Orientation: Straight Hometown: Nonthaburi Siblings: 5 Parents: Father passed away. Mother is unemployed Length of prostitution: 1 year Clients: 120+ Reason for prostitution: Money Dream: Policeman

p 52

Name: Veerapong Jaiyen Nickname: Aoun Age: 15 D.O.B.: January 22, 1995 Sexual Orientation: Straight Hometown: Changrai Siblings: 3 Parents: Both dies from a car crash when he was 5 Length of prostitution: 1 month Clients: 102 Reason for prostitution: Love, sex and need money Dream: Military

p 54

Name: Chalermchai Khantim Nickname: Tam Age: 15 D.O.B.: May 16, 1995 Sexual Orientation: Gay Hometown: Mukdaharn Siblings: 8 Parents: Work at a mechanical shop Length of prostitution: 1 month Clients: none Reason for prostitution: Money Dream: Mechanic

p 56

Name: Chawalit Choosangkaew Nickname: Jo Age: 13 D.O.B.: 1997 (Never know his exact birth date and month) Sexual Orientation: Gay Hometown: Chiangrai Siblings: 5 Parents: Mother died of Tuberculosis. Father is a street vendor Length of prostitution: 5 years Clients: 100+ Reason for prostitution: Money Dream: Mechanic

p 58

Name: Mongkon Singkam Nickname: Jib Age: 15 D.O.B.: December 10, 1995 Sexual Orientation: Straight Hometown: Chiangmai Siblings: 4 (two of which are underage prostitutes) Parents: Street vendors Length of prostitution: 2 months Clients: 20+ Reason for prostitution: Love, sex and money Dream: No dream

p 60

Name: Boonpitak Singkam Nickname: Fluke Age: 14 D.O.B.: May 11, 1996 Sexual Orientation: Straight Hometown: Chiangmai Siblings: 5 (two of which are prostitutes) Parents: Street vendors Length of prostitution: 1 year Clients: 100+ Reason for prostitution: Love, sex and money Dream: Boxer

p 62

Name: Teerapol Jankao Nickname: O Age: 14 D.O.B.: August 15, 1996 Sexual Orientation: Straight Hometown: Bangkok Siblings: 2 Parents: Father is a driver. Mother is unemployed Length of prostitution: 2 years Clients: 100+ Reason for prostitution: Money Dream: Navy

p 64

Name: Pattanapong Sa-ad pin Nickname: Ice Age: 15 D.O.B.: 1995 (Never know his exact birth ate and month) Sexual Orientation: Gay Hometown: Patumthani Siblings: 1 Parents: Father works at a gas station.

Mother is a street vendor Length of prostitution: 3 years Clients: 60+ Reason for prostitution: Money Dream: Police

p 66

Name: Sittikorn Sricharoen Nickname: Boat Age: 13 D.O.B.: February 24, 1997 Sexual Orientation: Straight Hometown: Bangkok Siblings: 13 Parents: Never knew father. Mother is a street vendor Length of prostitution: 1 month Clients: 22 Reason for prostitution: Money Dream: Pilot

p 68

Name: Niphon Trakarnjan Nickname: Jon Age: 14 D.O.B.: April 19, 1996 Sexual Orientation: Straight Hometown: Bangkok Siblings: 13 Parents: Father is unemployed.

Mother sews and repairs clothes Length of prostitution: 3 months Clients: 46 Reason for prostitution: Money Dream: No dream

p 70

Name: Anon Srisuk Nickname: Kia Age: 15 D.O.B.: May 2, 1995 Sexual Orientation: Straight Hometown: Bangkok Siblings: No siblings Parents: Father is a messenger.

Mother passed away Length of prostitution: 1 month Clients: 20 Reason for prostitution: Money Dream: No dream

p 72

Name: Siwa Chankaew Nickname: Ice Age: 14 D.O.B.: Never know his birth date Sexual Orientation: Straight Hometown: Bangkok Siblings: No siblings Parents: Father is a gas delivery.

Mother unemployed Length of prostitution: 4 months Clients: 50 Reason for prostitution: Money Dream: No dream

p 74

Name: Pathomchai Yampak Nickname: Knight Age: 12 D.O.B.: September 6, 1998 Sexual Orientation: Straight Hometown: Bangkok Siblings: 3 (two of which are prostitutes) Parents: Factory workers Length of prostitution: 1 year Clients: 50 Reason for prostitution: Money Dream: Air force

p 76

Name: Anapat Khanoey-ing Nickname: Oat Age: 16 D.O.B.: February 18, 1994 Sexual Orientation: Straight Hometown: Bangkok Siblings: 3 Parents: Divorced. Live with a mother who is a butcher Length of prostitution: 4 days Clients: 3 Reason for prostitution: A friend convinced him to try Dream: Air force

p 78

Name: Polawat Jitnatan Nickname: Golf Age: 16 D.O.B.: March 16, 1994 Sexual Orientation: Straight Hometown: Nakhon Patom Siblings: An only child Parents: Unemployed Length of prostitution: 1 year Clients: 80+ Reason for prostitution: Money Dream: B-boy dancer

p 80

Name: Tanawit Nupan Nickname: X Age: 16 D.O.B.: November 17, 1993 Sexual Orientation: Straight Hometown: Sukhothai Siblings: 1 Parents: Father passed away. Mother unemployed Length of prostitution: 1 month Clients: 15 Reason for prostitution: Friend convinced him to try Dream: B-boy dancer

p 82

Name: Kwanchai Wongchan Nickname: X Age: 17 D.O.B.: October 22, 1992 Sexual Orientation: Straight Hometown: U-Thai Thani Siblings: An only child Parents: Father is a foreman. Mother unemployed Length of prostitution: 4 months Clients: 16 Reason for prostitution: Money Dream: Hotel management

p 84

Name: Tassanai Pongsri Nickname: Pai Age: 14 D.O.B.: June 30, 1996 Sexual Orientation: Bi-sexual Hometown: Bangkok Siblings: 2 Parents: Unemployed Length of prostitution: 1 year Clients: 30 Reason for prostitution: Money Dream: No dream

p 86

Name: Krittakorn Patumrat Nickname: Guy Age: 14 D.O.B.: August 28, 1996 Sexual Orientation: Straight Hometown: Bangkok Siblings: 1 Parents: Cooks Length of prostitution: 2 months Clients: 8 Reason for prostitution: Money Dream: No dream

p 88

Name: Chaimonkol Kanthai Nickname: Kwan Age: 14 D.O.B.: November 12, 1996 Sexual Orientation: Straight Hometown: Nonthaburi Siblings: 4 Parents: Street vendors Length of prostitution: 9 months Clients: 50+ Reason for prostitution: Money Dream: No dream

p 90

Name: Anocha Sakorn Nickname: Non Age: 14 D.O.B.: October 25, 1995 Sexual Orientation: Straight Hometown: Bangkok Siblings: 2 Parents: Father is a messenger. Mother is a cook.

Length of prostitution: 1 month Clients: 10 Reason for prostitution: Money Dream: Actor

p 92

Name: Pisanu santhop Nickname: Tent Age: 12 D.O.B.: april 6, 1998 Sexual Orientation: Straight Hometown: Bangkok Siblings: 5 (two of which are prostitutes) Parents: Abandoned since birth, lives with his grandparents Length of prostitution: 3 years Clients: 100+ Reason for prostitution: Money Dream: Policeman

p 94

Name: Sakon Turahai Nickname: Nong Age: 15 D.O.B.: April 16, 1995 Sexual Orientation: Straight Hometown: Yasothorn Siblings: 2 Parents: Abandoned at ten. Raised and lived with grandparents Length of prostitution: 5 months Clients: 56 Reason for prostitution: Money Dream: No dream

p 96

Name: Chaichalerm Wongjarat Nickname: Boy Age: 14 D.O.B.: July 12, 1996 Sexual Orientation: Straight Hometown: Hadyai Siblings: none Parents: Father passed away since birth. Abandoned by mother at ten.

Length of prostitution: 1 year Clients: 100+ Reason for prostitution: Money Dream: No dream

p 98

Name: Damrong Jinnarat Nickname: Arm Age: 16 D.O.B.: April 14, 1994 Sexual Orientation: Straight Hometown: Pisanulok Siblings: None Parents: Parents abandoned him when he was a baby. Raised by his grandmother.

Length of prostitution: 5 years Clients: 500+ Reason for prostitution: Money Dream: No dream

p 100

Name: Karn Phuttapol Nickname: Bank Age: 17 D.O.B.: Never know his birth date Sexual Orientation: Straight Hometown: Kanchanaburi province Siblings: No siblings Parents: Divorced. Raised by his aunt.

Length of prostitution: 3 years Clients: 100+ Reason for prostitution: Money Dream: Singer

p 102

Name: Ketmongkol Baupisai Nickname: Mit Age: 14 D.O.B.: May 5, 1996 Sexual Orientation: Straight Hometown: Ubonratchatani Siblings: 1 Parents: Factory workers.

Length of prostitution: 2 years Clients: 100+ Reason for prostitution: Money Dream: No dream

p 104

Name: Chanawat Kuedsomcheua Nickname: Big Age: 14 D.O.B.: September 15, 1996 Sexual Orientation: Straight Hometown: Nakonpratom Siblings: 1 Parents: Factory workers.

Length of prostitution: 3 days Clients: 4 Reason for prostitution: Money Dream: No dream

p 106

Name: Nattawat Sukhontawong Nickname: Nut Age: 17 D.O.B.: October 15, 1994 Sexual Orientation: Straight Hometown: Bangkok Siblings: 2 Parents: Divorced Length of prostitution: 6 years Clients: 400+ Reason for prostitution: Money Dream: Becoming Policeman

p 108

Name: Chanan Boonpitak Nickname: Oak Age: 14 D.O.B.: July 23, 1996 Sexual Orientation: Straight Hometown: Ranong Siblings: 3 Parents: Street vendors Length of prostitution: 2 years Clients: 80 Reason for prostitution: Money Dream: No dream

p 110

Name: Sompob Sirivichai Nickname: Toon Age: 12 D.O.B.: December 4, 1998 Sexual Orientation: Straight Hometown: Nonthaburi Siblings: 5 Parents: Unemployed Length of prostitution: 1 year Clients: 60 Reason for prostitution: Money Dream: No dream

p 112

Name: Napat Chantra Nickname: Arm Age: 15 D.O.B. September 8, 1997 Sexual Orientation: Straight Hometown: Yala Siblings: 7 Parents: Divorced Length of prostitution: two years Clients: 300+ Reason for prostitution: Money Dream: Pilot

p 114

Name: Monton Wongkornburi Nickname: Ball Age: 17 D.O.B.: March 28, 1995 Sexual Orientation: Straight Hometown: Bangkok Siblings: 4 (One passed away) Parents: Brass jewelry shop workers Length of prostitution: 3 years Clients: 200+ Reason for prostitution: Money Dream: No dream

p 116

Name: Chotika Payoon Nickname: Ic-q Age: 14 D.O.B.: September 20, 1998 Sexual Orientation: Bi-sexual Hometown: Payao Siblings: 2 Parents: Work in Singapore Length of prostitution: 2 weeks Clients: 30 Reason for prostitution: Money Dream: No dream *Note: He had a gun on his hip when I met him. He said it’s for protection.

p 118

Name: Chaiyaporn Pongnarai Nickname: Jo Age: 15 D.O.B.: July 30, 1996 Sexual Orientation: Straight Hometown: Chainat Siblings: Only child Parents: Street vendors Length of prostitution: 4 days Clients: 15 Reason for prostitution: Money Dream: Policeman

p 120

Name: Refused to give Nickname: Golf Age: 14 D.O.B.: October 5, 1998 Sexual Orientation: Straight Hometown: Chiangmai Siblings: 11 Parents: Unemployed Length of prostitution: 2 months Clients: 20 Reason for prostitution: Money Dream: Police

p 122

Name: N/A Nickname: Buey Age: 14 D.O.B.: N/A Sexual Orientation: Straight Hometown: Cambodia Siblings: Only child Parents: Unemployed Length of prostitution: 2 months Clients: 14 Reason for prostitution: Money Dream: No dream

p 124

Name: Chan Buakow Nickname: Chan Age: 17 D.O.B.: June 18, 1995 Sexual Orientation: Straight Hometown: Khnon Khan Siblings: 5 Parents: Vendors Length of prostitution: 5 years Clients: 300+ Reason for prostitution: Money Dream: No dream

p 126

BIOGRAPHY OHM PHANPHIROJ 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‘s Underage project 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 ohmphotography.com.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS This book would not be possible without the support and collaboration of the following people. First and foremost, I am grateful to my subjects who participated in the project. Without them, their honesty and willingness to share anecdotes about their situations, I would not have been able to photograph them and share their stories.

I would also like to express my great appreciation to my colleagues and friends who contributed to the book: Brian Curtin, a curator writer/ art critic; Hunter O’Hanian, an executive director at the College Art Association; Richard Rinaldi, a prolific artist; Robert L. McBath, a professor of History at Georgia State University; and my mentor Denis Defibaugh, a brilliant artist and a professor of Imaging Arts at the Rochester Institute of Technology. I should also mention these beautiful people who have believed in me and supported my artistic career along the way: Gus B. Kaufman, WBA, Gergo Gacsi, Thomas E. Green, Cindy Primm, my beloved mother, and my father who is watching over me from somewhere beyond.

A big thanks to Maria Bibbs, my former advisor at Memphis College of Art, for proofreading my text.

Finally, I would like to acknowledge the great William Eggleston, who inspired me during our many afternoon conversations while I was living in Memphis; and my wonderful Bruno GmĂźnder team, especially Simeon Morales, Mischa Gawrowski, and Michael Taubenheim.

Ohm Phanphiroj Atlanta 2016

p 128

IMPRINT

© 2017 Bruno Gmünder GmbH Kleiststraße 23-26, D-10787 Berlin Phone: +49 30 61 50 03-0 Fax: +49 30 61 50 03-20 info@brunogmuender.com Editor-in-Chief: Mischa Gawronski Art Director: Matthias Panitz Editorial Coordination: Simeon Morales Editorial Assistance: Ronny Matthes Copy Editor: Winston Gieseke Print Management: zwei G consult Photography: © Ohm Phanphiroj ohmphotography.com Introduction: Hunter O‘Hanian Foreword: Brian Curtin

Denis Defibaugh Essay: Ohm Phanphiroj

Robert L. McBath jr.

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