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Dear you,
\nHow are you? How has your month been? Hopefully it was fruitful and content in many ways. For me, the month was going slow at the beginning, kind of synchronises with my internal pace, so I enjoyed it a lot. And then somehow work came in a big wave, suddenly I had to juggle between so many different projects that are concurrent at the same time.
\nI still managed to visit some exhibitions, which brings me to this month's topic: On Photography and Space. Actually I started thinking about this some time ago - I forgot why - but this question has been living at the back of my mind, \"how do we activate photographs, something that is two-dimensional, in a 3D space? How can we do it in a way that isn't just plotting them on the wall like classic exhibition design in galleries and white cube spaces, but to really think about the installation for imagery works, from how viewers would experience them to how the works relate to and own the space?\"
\nIn the last issue #2, I mentioned the exhibition Sunrise. Shift your weight by emerging artist Sami Yip at Hidden Space. The show was mind-blowing not only because the video works were fantastic, but also because the installation of the show was brilliantly designed and thoroughly thought through - extending the artist's concept into the exhibition making. At the start of this month, they hosted a talk: From ideas to installation and shared in details the process that they go through to helping artist from creating works to installing the works. The main idea that they put forward is that \"instead of just thinking about it, try it out e.g. the spaces between the walls, the chairs, the sizes of the monitors, the colour of the floor etc... once it is tried out, we can discuss, decide and move on.\" Little by little, the works developed a relationship with the space via all these considerations. And then, magically, the final design of the exhibition space created this allusion to the domestic spaces that the artist was making the videos of, allowing viewers to experience what he felt in those spaces. | \n\n |
\n | If that is the benchmark to an exhibition that really thought about imagery works and their relationship to a space, then I felt some other ones I visited didn't quite make the mark. Opaque Shattering, Truth Awakens curated by Jimmy Lee is a graduation exhibition from Lumenvisum 1st edition's Curatorship Programme. Regardless of the production quality which may be limited by timing and the budget, I feel overall although there was a good | \n
intention to thinking about photography in relation to space, the execution could be more precise, e.g. if the idea was to ask viewers to pick up a lamp to look at the images, the room could be tuned much darker e.g. using more opaque curtains, so that viewers would really need the lamps to look at the images. And then, since the curation is about exploring the earth in a post-civilisation world, could the photos be more dispersed in the space where audience would need to climb up or kneel down to look at the images of pollution, water, rocks and air? And could the installation of the works from the 5 artists be more coherent (rather than separated by each artist) so that the audience can experience this world more holistically? I felt the words printed on plastic and stuck on the wall were distracting. It would have been a better finish using transfer vinyl. And if the intention was to talk about plastics in this dystopian world, they were too neat and tidy.
\n\n Walking with Fung exhibition at Artellex had a different vibe. The photos exhibited were taken between 2019-2023, and the show was situated inside a printing company. Other than the big prints on the wall to demonstrate their exceptional exhibition-grade printing, I find the installation in the middle of the space more interesting. Using mostly black threads to wrap around a few poles, a spider-web structure was created. The small prints were clipped onto the threads, making them look like staggered washing lines. At first I questioned why there were no photos clipped facing inside the structure, but then I figured when I saw a few red threads around the spider web. \nI also love the fish tank installation that was placed on a table at the far end. It is essentially a hollow glass box, with a digital device underneath playing a slideshow of goldfish images every 4 seconds. \n | \n\n | \n | \n
The relationship between the goldfish images and their relative space felt thought through. It aligned very much with the artistic statement. Perhaps this explains its small tank size as well. Overall, I liked the exhibition. The fish tank installation was the star, letting viewers to connect and create meaning with the time-stamped images displayed in the space.
\nFinally, for this issue, I had a long conversation with Jimmi Ho to shed light on his photobook, So Close and Yet so Far Away. I also create a new instruction for you as a way to look mindfully via photography, and share what I did with the last instruction :)
\nLook forward to seeing what you discover too. Til next time.
\nLots of love, Michelle
\n\n In this issue: \n | \n\n | \n This Month's Featured Photobook \nSo Close and Yet So Far Away by Jimmi Ho \n\n Mindful Looking via Photography from #2 \nwhat I found from photographing my hands at moments of feeling anger \n\n Instruction for Mindful Looking #3 \ndiscover a random spot from Google Map \n \n | \n
So Close Yet and So Far Away by Jimmi Ho
\n\n So Close and Yet So Far Away is a photobook created by artist Wing Ka Ho, Jimmi (@groundhooo), a visual artist and documentary photographer from Hong Kong now based in the UK. The photobook was recently showcased as part of his exhibition at KYOTOGRAPHIE KG+ SELECT 2024. It is also one of the winners of the Belfast Photo Festival 2024 Open Submission - Photo-book. \nThe series began in 2019, which takes viewers on a journey through Hong Kong’s colonial history, migration, and archives. By putting different times and places related to Hong Kong, he creates a new narrative. Reflecting on Jimmi's personal journey, the series illustrates his transition from longing for the past to adapting to new environments, culminating in a profound reflection on the notion of \"home.\" This exploration underscores the ongoing process of decolonization amid change, linking our past to our future. \nI had a chance to know this work when it was one of the HKIPF 2021 Satellite Exhibitions. The work was mesmerising and imprinted an impression in my brain. As I discovered that Ho has made a photobook from this series, I immediately contacted him and invited him to share more about the work and the photobook. \n | \n\n | \n | \n
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In last month's issue #2, the instruction for mindful looking was:
\nAt moments of the feeling anger rises from your body, photograph your hands or what you are holding.
\nAnd here's what I made, and discovered.
\nIt was not until I look at the photo (on the left) that I realised how much colouration of my skin was lost with my angered sculptured fist. The sharp separation of colour between the deadish bruise-coloured skin verses the white-without-blood-flow skin makes it look awfully disturbing. And then the strangely positioned fingers, with some nails to be seen and some don't, created a peculiar deformed object / statue / structure. I am unsure what to make of it.
\nThe wing-like image (on the right) is a capture of my habit of snapping my middle finger, as a way to stop myself blurbing out what I do not mean at moments when I feel heated. As for the rest, I will leave you to interpret :).
\nHow about taking on a challenge together? Let's discover what we see when we intentionally create new pathways to our looking.
\nAnd then, paying it forward - what would your instruction be for others to look mindfully?
\nI'd love to learn what you created and what your instruction would be!
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\nreply me @ littledotrice@gmail.com |
\n | \n This is a monthly newsletter, On Looking, created by me, Michelle Chan. I'm a photo artist, writer, educator and founder of Phoboko living and working in Hong Kong. \nWith each issue, it is a way for me to curate and synthesise the materials that I find inspiring that month, and intentionally spend time to practice looking at them mindfully so to share and connect with you. I also organise phoboko sessions in bringing people together to think through photobooks more critically. \nIf you like what you are reading and the work that I do, please feel free to share it. You are also most welcomed to support me via PayMe (HK) or PayPal (abroad). \n | \n\n |
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