English
Keeping it real (& writing the books about it …)
Henrik List has been keeping it real and writing the books about it for almost three decades, staying close to a kind of ’dirty realism’ laced with punk, gonzo and Beat Generation antics, and fueled by sex, drugs & rock’n’roll, of course. He is the acknowledged, but controversial writer of now 15 books and was a high-profile cultural critic for daily newspaper Berlingske Tidende between 1991 and 2004.
At the same time as writing consistently about international underground/independent litterature, music and film, he has been sending dispatches from life on the edge and on the wild side, about the subcultures and outsiders of postmodern civilization - from Thai ladyboys, Tangier hustlers, and Tokyo goth lolitas, to Danish porn stars, strippers and prostitutes!
List was one of the first serious rave and club promoters in Denmark in the early 90’s, hiring big-name dj’s like Little Louie Vega, party-crews like Jackie 60 and bands like Underground Resistance to come to the country for the first time around. He co-founded the electronica scene at the Roskilde Festival in ’90 and was part owner of the bar Imbiss (now Riesen) in his Copenhagen neighborhood Vesterbro later in that decade, where he also was one of the editors of legendary Copenhagen art/media magazine Magasin Schäfer.
Read one of the short stories from Lists collection ”Pussyland” (2001) in English at www.pussyland.dk, or dig the site’s spoken word-version of it (”Pussyland Connection”), feat. famous Danish rapper Jokeren alongside List, a hip hop-dj and a jazz bass-player!
BANGKOK LADYBOYS
In their new book ”Bangkok Ladyboys”, Danish writer Henrik List and Danish, London-based photographer Anders Askegaard takes a trip through the heterosexual matrix, out of the closet and across gender lines into the steamy twilight zone of Thai transsexuals, the so-called ladyboys, that not only populates the nocturnal red light districts of Bangkok, Pattaya and Phuket, but also has a strong presence in the buddhist kingdom’s every-day life, generally accepted and respected as a kind of ’third gender’ by most Thais.
Nan Goldin depicted various international transsexual subcultures in ”The Other Side”, but ”Bangkok Ladyboys” is the first photo book worldwide which focuses exclusively on the unique Thai ladyboy phenomenon in the beginning of the 21st. Century.
After several trips to and years of research in this fascinating twilight zone, Henrik List pays gonzo homage to the fierce and stylish life of the estimated about 300.000 (!) Ladyboys. Moreover he analyzes their genderbending as a glimpse into a potentially multisexual future and a real-life expression of radical Western queer and transgender theory, while still acknowledging their vulnerable position in the periphery of Thai mainstream society, caught between hetero- and homosexual sensibilities.
Likewise, Anders Askegaards intensely vibrating, almost fashion-like color portraits of Thai Ladyboys in one way reflects the nightclubs and pavements of Bangkok as imaginary catwalk, playfully buying into the self-staging of their subjects, but on the other hand never shies away from the masculine cracks in the feminine make-up or the sometimes tragic fates behind the aggressively sexy posturing.
”Bangkok Ladyboys” was published to critical acclaim in Denmark in 2006, but this beautiful book also has something to say to international readers with an interest in contemporary transsexual subculture as well as postmodern Thai culture – especially in a time where Thailand has eclipsed the traditional Spanish destinations as the favorite vacation place for many, many European tourists, whether they are of the family package-deal or backpacker persuasion.
Henrik List has just spent another month in Thailand, once again exploring local Ladyboy culture in Bangkok and Pattaya, which means that he can edit the book for an international readership with fresh, new material in hand, and it is also possible for Anders Askegaard to go back to Thailand to take more pictures with short notice, if that is needed for a new, larger English language edition. Also, it is possible to do a more coffee-table type of English language edition with less text and more photography.
Henrik List (41) has been working as a cultural staff writer for the Danish equivalent of The Times, Berlingske Tidende, in almost 13 years, and has had 12 books published by major publishers in Denmark. www.henriklist.dk
Anders Askegaard (41) has works in all major photo art and photo journalism collections in Danish museums, and has been working all over the world for Danish newspapers and magazines. He is represented by Camera Press ltd/London.
Bangkok Ladyboys 96 pages, 48 pages of color photograpy.
Published in Denmark (2006) by art publisher Shooting Gallery Press in collaboration with literary publishing house Tiderne Skifter.