Growing up in Thailand in an artist family, photographer Deo Suveera has always been fascinated by observing people, objects and nature. After graduating from The Royal College of Art in London he’s back in his hometown Chiang Mai, where we talk to him about his time being in a band, the importance of mentorship and his love for taking strolls in the parks of London.
Hey Deo, after graduating from the Royal College of Art in London you’re back in your hometown Chiang Mai. How does your work stem from both your roots in Thailand and having lived in London?
Chiang Mai is full of cultural and historical narratives. It’s full of happenings and imperfections. It taught me to be attentive and curious to what’s in front of me.
When living in London everything became less saturated. I struggled at first in approaching and connecting with the city. But being in a place where I felt quite alienated, it also enabled me to work differently, to explore myself in a different way. This actually made me rethink how I was seeing things. I became more attentive to the performativity of my daily life and started to observe and capture unnoticed details in ordinary moments. My work became much more personal and intimate.
What was your main influence growing up? And how did you end up studying photography?
My dad is an artist and I always saw him paint. So I grew up in a house full of colors, forms, sketches, objects and visuals. Because my family is also very musical, music actually was my first creative outlet. I played the bass/double bass in a band called Helmetheads. We were together for a long time; recording and even touring around Thailand. It was such a memorable experience. My aunt had given me a film camera which I used to start documenting daily life. I took loads of pictures of the tour, my friends and family. At the same time, me and my girlfriend, who studied graphic design, started our own clothing brand. We did everything from designing to the art direction. That was the first time I shot an editorial campaign and immediately fell in love with it. I started to do more portraits and projects about people and places in Thailand. I was taking photography more seriously. When the band split up in 2017 I moved to London to do a Master degree in Fine Art Photography at the Royal College of Art.