www.photofairs.org
Press Preview | Thursday February 22, 4pm - 5pm
First Look Preview | Thursday February 22, 5pm - 10pm
VIP Preview | Friday February 23, 11am - 1pm
Christine Park Gallery is delighted to participate in Photofairs San Francisco with a duo-solo presentation by Hong Kong based photographer, Xyza Cruz Bacani (b. 1987) and Brooklyn based multi-disciplinary artist Mathew Tom (b. 1984).
Working as a domestic worker in Hong Kong for almost a decade, Xyza Cruz Bacani uses photography to raise awareness about under-reported stories, focusing on migrants and human rights issues. Whilst dealing with heavily weighted socio-political issues, Bacani’s works also reflect the isolation she felt whilst living in a foreign country, and also working as a domestic worker in this foreign setting. Echoing her 2015 exhibition After Work at Para-site Hong Kong - a group show that presented the historical stories of migrant domestic works in Hong Kong and the South East Asia vicinity, as well as a modern interpretation of migrant labour- Bacani’s act of taking photography is both a representation of the migrant worker and a representation of herself as an artist in a polarized modern society divided by class. Her work also engages with issues faced by young artists existing within highly competitive art market.
Mathew Tom is a Chinese-American photographer and painter, who depicts a utopian and later dystopian spaces and avatars through a mix of Eastern and Western iconography. The main theme of his photographs is an imaginary place named “Society of Friends”, inspired by his experience in different temples, ashrams and monasteries during his childhood in India. Fascinated by the harmonic, “perfect” but unrealistic atmosphere, he invents his own space with imaginary characters. The series represent his ideas of a seemingly perfect society built with a sense of admiration, coming from his own perspective of the Eastern culture “as an outsider of the culture”. The mix between the Eastern features and the Western aesthetics (posture, composition) in the portraits seem to reflect his background.
