#offchain
About this series
Historically, the survival of an individual, tribe, region or country has largely depended on its progress in the arms-race; its ability to hunt, protect, attack, defend, disarm, thrive and evolve. A strong military arsenal or personal weapon can be both an intimidating threat or a peacetime deterrent.
The global military industrial complex is at the forefront of cutting-edge technology and engineering. It constantly pushes the technological boundaries and is the biggest business enterprise in the world. Aside from arms and military capability, it has given the world other kinds of technological breakthroughs. Double-edged swords such as digital communication and smart production platforms including the internet, mobile phones, GPS, robotics, space programs and AI.
The very idea of weapons is understandably a polarising subject, the nature of this is extreme and bipolar with contradictory design elements of beauty and ugliness. Firearms specifically have their own distinctive aesthetics and represent the dualities of creation and destruction, mechanical and organic, terrifying and inspiring, order and chaos, light and dark. Technology truly expresses and brings out the best and the worst within all of us.
Guns are weapons used with hands and arms as an extension of the human form, they are fundamentally analogue tools that have evolved from archery, sword and spear. This project 'Ballistics’ consists of a series of photographs, sculptures and video installations created using different caliber guns and bullets.
Artist Bio
Bangkok born lens-based artists Piyatat Hemmatat moved at the age of 14 to Devon, England to complete his secondary education. He then focused his increasing passion for experimental arts by earning a Bachelor’s degree in fine art from City & Guild London art school (1999 - 2001), followed by a Master’s degree in visual art from Chelsea College of Art & Design (2002).
In 2007 Piyatat returned home to Thailand and established his own eponymous studio and founded RMA Institute (2009 - 2019), a creative space exhibiting emerging, regional and international photography as well as other media. His community project eventually evolved into PhotoBangkok, Bangkok’s first home grown International Photography Festival, that he founded (2015 - onwards).
Piyatat’s multimedia explorations in Photography, Sculpting and Video Installation encompass a variety of narratives - from socio-political commentary, faith, spirituality and abstract experimentation to groundbreaking conceptual photography - and have been continually published and exhibited both local and internationally. He is recognized for his experimental works, combining ideas of nature, science, technology, mystery and mythologies.
Photographer: Piyatat Hemmatat
Instagram: @piyatat.hemmatat
Photos copyright Piyatat Hemmatat
Supported by Jenny Metaverse.
The Jenny collection contains almost 200 works of modern and contemporary art.
DRAWLIGHTS | 1/1 – one post/one photographer, weekly. Off-chain and on-chain. By Peter Nitsch, lens-based artist, a member of Jenny Metaverse, RawDAO and lifetime Member of the Royal Photographic Society of Thailand.