PRIDE centres itself around the themes of identity and representation in regards to living as both an Asian identity and under the Transgender spectrum. Primarily focusing on how the photographed subjects, who identify as Asian and transgender, exist in the context of performance, public spaces and private routines. The project challenges the visual representation of being Trans and Asian under the binary, heteronormative, patriarchal archetypes of our current society. Using portrait photography and creative writing, PRIDE uses the emotion of pride as the foundation to affirm one’s own definition of how they can exist. Initiated by personal frustrations of how my representation as both a person of colour and as a transgender identity has been trivialized and circulated; the medium and production of PRIDE symbolize a reclamation of authorship in representation. From shooting on 35mm film to sequencing with 4x6 prints and having the final form of the project being a photobook, I intend every step of the project to take up space in the real world and have its own body. This philosophy towards the project is intended as a personal form of protest towards how queer bodies are often discouraged to showcase themselves both physically and socially. I see the physicality of the project and method of production as my preferred way to engage with images and my own practice. The tactility of the photobook allows for audiences to physically engage with the photographs and shares the physical world with audiences by taking up space in the context within the everyday routine. The emphasis on physicality simultaneously challenges anti-authorship rhetoric by having the photographs only be accessible through physical engagement; asking the audience not for permission to exist but serving as a statement of existence.
PRIDE exhibited at Maximum Exposure 30: Legacy (04.25.2025 - 05.04.2025)