Interview by Agnes Bae

What inspired you to create this series? You identify your primary practice as painting--what made you decide to paint over photographs?

I have long been fascinated with the act of collection -- especially of old photographs that exist as a kind of ambiguous capture of the past -- and since a major portion of my work lives around the idea of disconnection and ruptures within the last century or so, this was another mode to explore. I see myself having a conversation with history; I let the photographs guide me in the choice of subject matter, which is much more interesting for me. The addition of the painted medium is my response to what the photo gives me and is my attempt to make marks that have their own life force, existing almost without my hand prompting them. The paint rests on the photograph like a residue that contains energy. Above all I strive to create a dialogue through my work; the interplay between the viewer and the work is paramount to me.

What do the photographs mean to you? Are they found images? In most of the images, the faces are painted over, was there a particular motivation behind that decision?

The photographs I work with are an assortment; some are of my relatives and others are salvaged from dumps, thrift stores, etc. In a lot of instances I'll be mulling over a theme in my head, perhaps reading a book or otherwise engrossed, and I will happen across a photo that will be the window into the conversation I am looking for. Painting over the faces of the subjects, and in some instances their entire body, renders the image more translatable for the viewer, permitting them to project themselves onto the landscape of the face and body. And yet there is a push and pull dichotomy that I also strive for where all you're presented with is not the whole story. I feel that the addition of the painted medium enables me to talk about human suffering and about the fragmentation of family and identity in a softer way. It allows me to actively work through trauma, and then present it to the viewer. That translation of trauma through different idioms is something that deeply compels me.

Who are some artists that inspire you?

There are many sources of inspiration for my work, which is why I have such love for art since it resides in almost everything. There are artists whom I actively reference: Albert Oehlen, Alberto Burri, Gorky, and Louise Bourgeois for her tapestry pieces. And then there are those for whom I have complete reverence: Piero Della Francesca, Bruegel, and many Medieval painters.

A contemporary artist who recently passed whom I very much admire is Shen Chun Chu; I find his almost ethnographic excavation into his family's past deeply moving.

WCW Questionnaire

Describe your creative process in one word.

Worship

If you could give a piece of advice on anything, what would it be?

Be curious.

What is the last book you read or film you saw that inspired you?

I've been reading excerpts from R.B. Kitaj's First Diasporist Manifesto in which he discusses how his ideas on painting intertwined with his feelings of alienation and how that contributed to his practice.

What is the most played song in your music library?

Sweet Thing by Van Morrison.

How do you take your coffee?

Black.