The raw heartbeat of downtown New York from the mid 1980s through to the 1990s is the subject of a visceral new photographic exhibition at Bangkok’s Chaloem La Art House this month. As a teenager, Swedish-American photographer Jesper Haynes was invited to the Big Apple by none other than art icon Andy Warhol, triggering a life-long fascination with the city’s kinetic street culture. Highly regarded for documenting the fringes of city life with unflinching honesty, Hayne’s artistic journey is that of a ‘rebel diarist’ whose gritty, monochrome visions capture the pulse of the city that never sleeps.

“My goal was to shoot one roll of black and white film every day, sometimes I succeeded, often not,” remembers Haynes, who had an apartment in the anarchic Lower East Side, close to the infamous Area Nightclub frequented by the likes of Warhol, Madonna and Basquiat. “Twenty years later I had thousands of rolls of film and, for each roll, a contact sheet was created. These contact sheets represented my photographic life - it was my diary. I was in love with the city and with the feeling that anything goes.”

Unlike conventional exhibits, New York Darkroom recreates the sensuous thrill of the analogue workspace itself. Walls are hung with contact sheets that serve as Haynes’s photographic journal: fragments of night-long parties, alleyway confessions, intimate portraits of friends and strangers and spontaneous encounters that speak to a New York as a realm of endless possibilities.

Haynes honed his craft in the darkroom of legendary photographer Ralph Gibson, and the exhibition will also feature a number of his hand processed, black and white prints as well as a photographer talk and the launch of a limited edition photographic zine. “I’m very excited to bring the New York Darkroom exhibition to Bangkok,” adds Haynes, who has worked for Chanel and continues to travel the world on assignments. “I’ll have my camera close by. Even at events I like to shoot. I’m fascinated by people and capturing spontaneous moments for my life long diary.”

This must-see exhibition covering three floors at Chaloem La Art House in Ratchatewi (BTS Exit 2) opens on January 24 from 6pm and runs until February 14. Jesper will share his story and iconic images at a photographer’s talk on Jan 31 and also launch one of his highly collectable photographic zines at a gallery party on Feb 7.