About
Unginspired
Stories of truth, suffering, and what it means to be human
Please consider supporting this project by becoming a member on the Patreon page
Baramay Ung
Creator/Host of Unginspired
I’m Baramay Ung — a Cambodian-American guitarist, composer, Capoeirista, and educator turned photographer, storyteller, devout Buddhist, and avid meditator. I started Unginspired to celebrate our differences, to show the beauty in suffering, and to show the humanity in everyone. Everyone deserves to be heard, to be seen, to be respected, and to grow.
This project started in Peru in July 2023, when I tried plant medicine for the first time. I asked the medicine: What should I do with my life? I burned out from my music career, and I somehow ended up spending the pandemic running massive Covid operations, but that job was ending. I wasn’t sure what to do next.
The answer I got was simple: “There’s a reason you brought your camera here to Peru, and not your guitar," and I was reminded of one of my earliest childhood memories—that the first thing I ever bought from my first high school job was an enlarger for my DIY bathroom darkroom. My mom asked me, "Where did you get that?" and I told her, "I paid for it." I'll never forget that look of pride in her eyes in that moment.
So I began to imagine what I could do with my camera: the people I could photograph, the stories I could tell, the issues I could shed light on. The first person who came to mind was my close friend battling Stage 4 colon cancer. When I asked if I could document his journey, he agreed enthusiastically (but only after he saw my pictures from Peru :) But when we sat down to talk about everything he’d faced — cancer, the healthcare system, plant medicine, and his music career — it became clear: this should be an interview.
That interview set everything in motion. Unginspired has grown into more than photography or interviews — it’s a way to explore what it means to suffer, to love, and to grow. It’s shown me that emotions can’t exist without their opposites, that love and suffering are inseparable, and that our differences ultimately reveal the extent of oneness that connects us all.
I hope you'll be able to see these things for yourself, Everyone has a story, and everyone's story has a place in this world. Thank you for visiting this space, a space for reflection, empathy, and light in a complicated and often dark world.
Creator/Host of Unginspired
I’m Baramay Ung — a Cambodian-American guitarist, composer, Capoeirista, and educator turned photographer, storyteller, devout Buddhist, and avid meditator. I started Unginspired to celebrate our differences, to show the beauty in suffering, and to show the humanity in everyone. Everyone deserves to be heard, to be seen, to be respected, and to grow.
This project started in Peru in July 2023, when I tried plant medicine for the first time. I asked the medicine: What should I do with my life? I burned out from my music career, and I somehow ended up spending the pandemic running massive Covid operations, but that job was ending. I wasn’t sure what to do next.
The answer I got was simple: “There’s a reason you brought your camera here to Peru, and not your guitar," and I was reminded of one of my earliest childhood memories—that the first thing I ever bought from my first high school job was an enlarger for my DIY bathroom darkroom. My mom asked me, "Where did you get that?" and I told her, "I paid for it." I'll never forget that look of pride in her eyes in that moment.
So I began to imagine what I could do with my camera: the people I could photograph, the stories I could tell, the issues I could shed light on. The first person who came to mind was my close friend battling Stage 4 colon cancer. When I asked if I could document his journey, he agreed enthusiastically (but only after he saw my pictures from Peru :) But when we sat down to talk about everything he’d faced — cancer, the healthcare system, plant medicine, and his music career — it became clear: this should be an interview.
That interview set everything in motion. Unginspired has grown into more than photography or interviews — it’s a way to explore what it means to suffer, to love, and to grow. It’s shown me that emotions can’t exist without their opposites, that love and suffering are inseparable, and that our differences ultimately reveal the extent of oneness that connects us all.
I hope you'll be able to see these things for yourself, Everyone has a story, and everyone's story has a place in this world. Thank you for visiting this space, a space for reflection, empathy, and light in a complicated and often dark world.