Emma Kwok
Media Studies / Anthropology / Folklore
VISUAL ART 2018 - 2019
These are works from another course at UBC, in which I learned how to use a DSLR camera and continued to explore conceptual art.
STAGES OF IDENTITY
2018. Digital photography. 105.84 cm x 105.84 cm.
2018. Digital photography. 57.89 cm x 127 cm.
2018. Digital photography. 105.84 cm x 105.84 cm.
​
For me, having ties to two cultures (American and Chinese) but feeling a little alienated from both is a frequent source of confusion.
I wanted to depict this liminal tension, this feeling of between-ness, as well as my desire for a balanced cultural identity.
The image of alternating forks and chopsticks represents a pre-liminal stage, in which I identify as either more American or more Chinese by situation.
The pattern fades into the background like actions fading into the past. The repetition creates familiarity and stability, but the utensils (or identities) are never fully meshed or represented.
​
To depict liminal moments of detachment from both cultures, I placed a fork and a pair of chopsticks on the floor. I wanted to evoke how being in-between identities can feel dark and dirty.
​
The photograph of a pair of chopsticks and a fork leaning against each other represents my much hoped-for, balanced cultural identity. The utensils join together and support one another.
I cropped the first and last images into squares to convey stability and to contrast with the length of the second image. I wanted viewers’ eyes to fall from the top of the second image to the utensils at the bottom, like falling from familiarity into the in-between. The border around the liminal image adds distance between it and viewers.
ME, YOU, AND MY SHADOW
2018. Digital photography. 127 cm x 68.43 cm.
​
This project is inspired by Vito Acconci's black-and-white video: Shadow-Play. In the film, a light casts Acconci’s shadow onto the wall in front of him. Acconci boxes his shadow but cannot touch it, evade it (it mirrors his movements), or dominate it (it is much larger than himself). The film seems to expose a private, impossible struggle between Acconci and himself.
​
Thinking of my shadow as an intangible being fascinated me. Unlike Acconci, I wanted to depict my shadow as the limitless self I wish to be, rather than as an opponent to fight.
While I am constrained by insecurities attached to my physical self, my shadow is not. It can cross boundaries, change shape, and exist in a way which I think that I can't. I am often afraid of being seen and judged, but my ambiguous shadow is almost unjudgeable.
​
To create this image, I photographed my sister in a crowded, sunlit place, and then asked her to replicate the picture with me as the subject several times.
When I edited my RAWs, I decreased their clarity to make them hazy, like shadows. In Photoshop, I layered three images on top of each other at different opacities to capture the movement of people around me. I cropped the composite image so the shadows in it would occupy most of the frame. To highlight their length, I made the image longer than it is wide.
Additionally, I used a black-and-white adjustment layer to decrease the visual noise created by people’s bright clothes (which distracted from the shadows). I then increased the blackness of the colors I wore to emphasize myself and my solidness. Finally, when I printed the photograph, I left it borderless to evoke how shadows are unbound by physical bodies.
