Mess

It’s been a long while since I’ve written but, you know, I think about it all the time. My mind is always pumping out little quips and wordy morsels that would be SO GREAT in a blog post. I have a whole stash of quips and morsels but they’re like trinkets you pick up along the way, taking up space and collecting dust and making you wonder what was so great about this thing in the first place anyway. I need to clear out my noggin.

Personal Best: July ’17

Bradbury Building, Downtown, Los Angeles | July 3

Father Mother Me

New Dehli-based artist and educator Nilanjana Nandy asked me to create a concept for a virtual “potluck” call as part of the upcoming group art show IN BETWEEN. Since I’ve been thinking a lot about the notion of family and heritage lately, I decided to invite fellow IN BETWEEN artists to share their thoughts on the matter.

Personal Best: May and June ’17

Since the weekly selection of photo favorites hasn’t been working out so well lately, I’ve decided to do monthly selects. That seems doable, yes?

Here are my favorite photos from the end of May to the end of June. Oh, and I discovered that well-dressed Asian tourists love Salvation Mountain.

My Old Lady

A close friend of mine comes from an even closer-knit family, and her aunt sadly passed away earlier this month. Aunt Helen’s death was a blow to friends and family and will continue to be for the times ahead but it was also a final reprieve from the terrible physical pain she endured during the final chapter of her life.

It was beautiful to see Aunt Helen’s legacy apparent through all the loved ones who spoke or sang during the memorial. The best parts of her humanity were exemplified in flesh and blood in her daughter and granddaughter. Their poise and strength reflected her. Their stories celebrated her.

Personal Best: 05/01/17, 05/08/17, 05/15/17

We’re almost at the halfway mark of 2017 and, wow, I’m behind on posting my “personal best” photos. To be honest, I don’t really see the point. Who’s looking at this or even cares about it? Plus, as I spend more and more time looking at photos out in the world, I am starting to get a sense of what images are “popular” and which are not, and it feels demoralizing to stick to what I think is good rather than post images that I know will be generally liked. I had to take a moment to remind myself that I am not doing this for someone else’s eyes/likes/approval. This is a way for me to mark my progression as a photographer and to remember the things I saw and mulled over while being alive in the world. Of course, if your eyeballs do land on these images and you have thoughts, please do let me know. I would love to hear from you.

24 Hour Project 2017

On Saturday, April 1, I participated in a worldwide photo event called the 24 Hour Project for the fourth year. People from around the world took photographs of their city, one photo for every hour of the entire day. I’ve been thinking a lot about and exploring the nature of personal history and memory, the effects of gentrification and the sublime within the banal, all through the lens of Koreatown. These things have been marinating in my brain as I observe the ways my childhood neighborhood has changed, how “outsiders” relate to it then and now and the castoff things and marginalized people visible on the streets. I decided to do my 24 Hour Project exclusively in Koreatown this year because of all of this, not that I made it a point to capture these exact things on the day. Oh, and to it off, I made the day extra crazy for myself by scheduling a few “experiences” throughout the day that friends could join in on.

Personal Best: 04/24/17

Downtown, Los Angeles | April 17

Personal Best: 04/10/17

I was barely getting over my lack of sleep during the 24 Hour Project when my sister went into labor on Monday. Observing my sister during the last nine months and hearing how things went once she went into the hospital made me realize anew that everything about human life is pretty tough: the making of a human, the birthing of a human, the keeping alive of a human (not to mention all the rest of it). Thankfully, I had no part in making or birthing the squirmy, floppy, helpless newborn nephew but I, along with my mom, was pretty busy keeping his curious, confused, demanding, bouncing-off-the-wall siblings alive while my sister/their mother recuperated and kept the aforementioned newborn alive. I barely made it out alive myself. I don’t know how moms and dads do it.