#2: A Conversation with Photography
This exhibition is one of my earliest works from 2012. It might be concused that when you get off the elevator, you see three works - a large glass, and flowers behind it. The title is "Dialogue with Photography", suggests that the work is related to the photography medium. It was my graduate thesis work, created in 2012 when I graduated from SVA in New York. At the time, I was mainly researching the relationship between behavior and photography at school. So I was concerned about how each element in an image can act as a performer and influence a theatrical scene, even leading to a narrative story. I was also wondering why photography is confined within a frame, which led me to not pursue traditional photography. I don't believe an image should be boxed in or have boundaries. So this work was an experiment - where there should be many things and sounds happening within the frame, there is actually nothing, while the main content is outside the frame and on the frame itself.
At the time, I was questioning the traditional photographic ways of expressing beauty, including portraiture, the body, and formalist expressions. I wanted to explore what beauty really is. So when I searched online for beautiful flower images, I deliberately used words opposite to beauty, like "vomit-inducing", "nauseating", "ugly" flowers. These are real flowers that humans have named that way because they are considered unattractive or foul-smelling. But in the end, they appear very beautiful. I feel this speaks to the inherent charm of the photographic medium. The flat plane is turned into a 3D space, with the thickness of the frame protruding from the surface. This expresses the idea of "dialogue" in the title - it feels more like a confrontation to me. Even the choice of flowers fits this confrontational vibe. Given my youthful state of mind at the time, before reaching that point of stability in life. These flowers are unlike the typical roses or lilies we think of as beautiful. Their exotic, pungent scents and colors reflect an evolutionary relationship that this work explores - challenging our conventional standards of aesthetic beauty.
This work really marked the beginning of me forming my own creative approach. If each element in my work is like a performer, I want them to have equal status, not like a traditional ballet where the king and queen are up front, while dancing performers are behind them. I want everything on my stage to have the same rights and space to speak.