Artsy Mondays
COVID-19: INFOCUS PHOTO EXHIBIT UPDATE
As the curator of InFocus Photo Exhibit & Awards, I have been honored to share excellent Canadian photography for the past six years in multiple exhibition venues, all with the mission of promoting and celebrating emerging and established photographers. It has been a wonderful ride.
Little did I know that this year’s exhibit would take place during one of the world’s most alarming illnesses in many years – if not decades. I am thankful that InFocus Photo Exhibit launched with a triumphant bang at the beginning of February with a fabulous opening party and lots of visitors to take in the photographs. This is certainly a year I will look back on fondly.
At the same time, with the Coronavirus COVID-19 throwing countries all over the globe into health crisis, an art exhibit is not the top priority in the hierarchy of needs. I am glad that many people had the opportunity to see InFocus while they had the chance.
InFocus Photo Exhibit 2020 – Next Steps
InFocus Photo Exhibit will stay open to the viewing public until the conclusion of the exhibit run at the end of March.
I am not in a panic to take down the exhibit as there still remains the potential for people to see the show when passing through the Renaissance Edmonton Airport Hotel.
I am committed to the mission of InFocus Photo Exhibit & Awards and my team and I believe in the importance of art in stressful and traumatic times like these. Art can help us focus on our world and on each other, prompt us to think deeply, and choose bravery.
The theme of InFocus this year, 2020, is “Change.”
This is fitting. With so much going on in the world on multiple fronts, this theme rings truer than ever. We all are in a season of change in terms of physical and mental health, environmental concerns, economic shift, and family and professional transitions in light of COVID-19. Change is inescapable and inevitable, yet we cannot let this season of human history be fraught with only negatives.
Change can be good and positive.
Change can help us refocus on what we believe in and why.
Photographers hold a powerful tool in their hands – their cameras – that can be a voice for advocacy, create a record of events and people, and create a platform for reform.
This is what InFocus Photo Exhibit & Awards is all about.
I believe in the power of the arts, which is why I continue to be active in promoting artists, including painters, photographers, writers, filmmakers, and beyond.
I am honored to be the InFocus Curator, the Curator-in-Residence at the Renaissance Edmonton Airport Hotel and the Curator at the Multicultural Heritage Centre in Stony Plain. Curators make a huge cultural impact as the tool we hold in our hands is the power to present artwork, give it a platform, and shape the ideas presented in galleries and other spaces; ideas, then, that the public sees and experiences, helping to shape movements.
As an artist as well as a curator, I appreciate both sides of this. When it can sometimes feel impossible to have a say in the flurry of change going on around us, we must always remember that there are other ways to disseminate important messages. Art is one of those ways.
Here in my blog today I am thrilled to share an interview with a long-standing InFocus photographer, Kevin Tuong.
One of the great things about InFocus Photo Exhibit & Awards is that it sparks conversations. It opens up the dialogue about contemporary Canadian photography, but it is so much more. It adds to the discourse on our health, environment, and politics.
Thank you for joining me on Artsy Mondays! And welcome…
Kevin Tuong
Kevin is the recipient of InFocus Photo’s inaugural Technicare Landscape Award! Congrats Kevin!
Technicare Landscape Award 2020 recipient Kevin Tuong, Technicare general manager Cathy Columberg, and InFocus Photo Exhibit curator Alexis Marie Chute.
Photographer Interview
Kevin Tuong
When did you know you wanted to be a photographer?
I didn’t know. I sort of… fell into it? I got my first camera on boxing day because it seemed like a cool piece of technology to play with. That was it, I was just a tech-head. But the more I learned about it and the more I learned about camera accessories and how they influence an image, the more I became drawn into photography.
Photo by Kevin Tuong
Who are the photographers and artists that have had the greatest influence on you and why?
This is a total cop out answer, but Ansel Adams because of how he was able to see the landscapes he photographed and transformed them from just the image to what he visioned in his mind in the darkroom. Other than that though, I don’t really look into modern day photographers, because, and this is a quote from a movie with Corey Stroll playing Ernest Hemingway, “If it’s bad, I’ll hate it because it’s bad. And if it’s good, I’ll be envious and hate it all the more.”
Kevin Tuong
What is the inspiration behind your photographs?
It’s mostly to influence the viewer. There’s no… message or reasoning behind the photos I take, I just want them to think – about anything. Whether it’s what the photo is about, or something about themselves, or even just for their eyes to wander around the frame and see how it all comes together.
Photo by Kevin Tuong
What was the most unique person or place you’ve photographed?
There was this one time when I was still in photography school and we had to do a video project, and at the time I was always looking at what other photographers were doing on youtube and saw this one photographer who did street portraits of strangers. It’s something I’ve always wanted to try and it fit the assignment, so I said why not?
Went to downtown Edmonton, Churchill square, with two other classmates, one being a lighting assistant and the other being the video camera man. As we were standing in the middle of the square, setting up the lights, there was this older looking Muslim man with these fancy new looking sunglasses pacing back and fourth very close to us. He must’ve come by 5 or 6 times. After I did some quick lighting measurements and test shots, I immediately asked him if he wouldn’t mind having his picture taken.
This was his moment to shine, he had been waiting for this moment for his entire life it seems as all he said to me was, “I am ready.” He fixed his glasses really quickly, strokes the edges of his moustache, and stood in place. Click. One shot. One shot was all it took, and it’s the only time in my entire career that I only took 1 shot and it turned out magnificently.
Photo by Kevin Tuong
What advice do you have for aspiring photographers?
Just shoot. Go out and shoot. No amount of video watching and tutorial reading will teach you as much as you actually going out and doing it yourself.
If you could have any superpower, which would you choose?
Teleportation. Easily. First of all, I could rob a bank without being traced, and then buy all the camera gear I could ever want. Secondly, I could teleport to anywhere I wanted to get “the shot.” Screw using a drone, I’ll just teleport myself high enough for a split second, take a shot with my new $100,000 super fast medium format, and then teleport myself safely back to ground.
Photo by Kevin Tuong
Where is your favorite travel destination?
Ugh, I hate it but I love it – Japan. Every year I’m thinking “We need to travel somewhere other than Asia” but I can’t. It’s too lively, too chaotic, and too damn affordable. But Japan in particular because it’s a whole other planet out there. It’s inexplicably just… otherworldly.
Photo by Kevin Tuong
When you’re not photographing, what are your favorite hobbies?
Video games and movies. Both involve artists who create visual environments using lights, colours, and props. It’s interactive and moving photos.
Photo by Kevin Tuong
What do you most enjoy about being a part of InFocus Photo?
Being displayed at the Renaissance hotel at the Airport is probably the best part, since it gets so many passerby’s daily, and a lot of them are travelling so you get an international audience. And of course, I enjoy seeing our lovable curator, Alexis, every year.
Where can people find you online?
At my website, www.ktbphotograhy.ca and my Instagram @kevintuong. Feel free to say hi!
Photo by Kevin Tuong
See InFocus Photo this March at the Renaissance Edmonton Airport Hotel
This invite features the photo of Kevin Tuong.
Attention Artists!
Open Call
Outside-the-Frame
April 22 to June 10, 2020
An exhibition without right angles. “Outside-the-Frame” shows circular, triangular, and other shapes of 2-D and 3-D art. The artists in this exhibit literally think outside the box to create work that titillates our imaginations with their unconventionally created and presented art.
Important Dates:
Apply by Monday, March 16, 2020.
Acceptance confirmation by Monday, March 30, 2020.
Deliver artwork on Saturday, April 18, 2020.
Exhibition dates: Wednesday, April 22 to Wednesday, June 10, 2020.
Opening reception on Saturday, April 25, from 1:00 to 3:00 pm.
Pick-up artwork on Saturday, June 13, 2020.
Full submission details. Click here.
Stay tuned for all my “calls for submissions” for artwork.
Subscribe to my e-newsletter to have these opportunities sent right to you.
Attention Artists!
Open Call
Video Art: Modern Artmaking in Moving Images
July 22 to September 9
NOTE: Call open to video art to be shown in the gallery in the exhibition, AND short to medium length films to be screened on an evening during the exhibit.
Art of the moving image, the manipulated video file, the creation of a film-based art piece, and artistic presentations through video. This exhibition will challenge our perceptions on what constitutes art, how we view and consume media, and how we can engage with film in whole new ways.
Important Dates:
Apply by Monday, June 8, 2020.
Acceptance confirmation by Monday, June 22, 2020.
Deliver artwork on Saturday, July 18, 2020.
Exhibition dates: July 22 to September 9
Opening reception on Thursday, July 23, at 6:00 to 8:00 pm.
Pick-up artwork on Saturday, September 12, 2020.
Full submission details. Click here.
Stay tuned for all my “calls for submissions” for artwork.
Subscribe to my e-newsletter to have these opportunities sent right to you.
