Gaze

(2009-11-05; 2010-11-17; 2011-02-03)

Originally, these photographs were explorations with sequence/time-event lapse. Somewhere along the way, I became interested in the power of "the gaze" (Lacan & Foucault). Soon, performance elements are incorporated into the investigation. Often the interactive element becomes a challenge between me and the subject. Do men and women react differently to a photographer, especially when they are strangers to each other? When the gaze is without permission? Whether the perceived sexual orientation of the subject/object affects the interaction?

A Year in Window

I don't have very many clear memories from childhood, but I do remember walking by a garment shop on Prince Edward Road every day going home from school. It was not a big shop, but there were many mannequins in the windows and usually at least one of them would be in pieces, waiting for its new clothes. I think that's the root of my fascination with mannequins (they're like giant - then bigger than life-size - dolls).

For a year (08/09-08/10), I walked by the Golden Closet (a vintage clothing shop, now defunct) almost everyday for my commute. I took photographs with my phone every time there's a change in the windows. It started as a documentation of time passing, but what I soon found more interesting were the illusions in each tableaux...

for better quality: http://vimeo.com/atyl/a-year-in-window

Dibs!!

This is the 2nd year my mom's been living in the States, and her first blizzard. She's very amused by the time-honored 'dibs' system of reserving shoveled street parking. So we borrowed my landlord's shovel and lawn chair and bucket and for the first time ever, I shoveled out my car this morning... We're calling it performance art.

Time

It's really amazing how easily it slips through one's fingers...

(I've been shooting the sequences this last year, just haven't posted them...yet!)

tradition

i wonder what requires more character and courage: to respect tradition, or to step away from it.

(model: sommelier)

hands

you can tell a lot by a person's hands. the gentle strength in his caught my attention.

chance

do you ever wonder why people meet? is it simply chance, or is it kismet?

i like these candid sequences also as they remind me we don't live in the worlds of Albee or Camus. at least we shouldn't be...

(left work 15 mins earlier than normal. first the woman's purse caught my eye, then the lack of expression on her face. unexpectedly, she moved into the camera's view just before the train reached my stop. now i have 1/365!)