Cattleya Jaruthavee is a British-Thai photographer, graduating with a Bachelor of Science in Sociology from the University of Bristol and a Masters in Photojournalism from the University of Westminster. Cattleya has exhibited in London, Bangkok, Phnom Penh, and Yangon.
A deep tenderness pervades Cattleya Jaruthavee’s new photographic series, ‘Paused Dream’. This is an indescribable portrait of youth: to be so young and already overhung with the sour smell of disappointed hopes ; a sprightly old dance record, full of impossible yearning, forever stuck on a melancholy groove.
Close to the Thai-Lao border, Laotian ‘hostesses’ wait patiently for clients outside their karaoke bars. Business is slow in the rainy season; competition is fierce among the many bars in that small area. “There is a clear spectre of hope,” says Jaruthavee, “nursed with infinite patience by the act of continuous waiting.”
The photographer’s intimate empathy for her subject is vibrant and palpable; she moves us to tears even as her work’s degree ...