Statement and Video

My work in photography deals with understanding familiarity, foreignism and the uncanny. The uncanny is how I feel about living in Memphis. It is familiar yet still strange and uncomfortable. A sense of place is ironic in my experiences. I grew up in Memphis, a city in the South, surrounded by a large population of blacks, whites, hispanics and small amount of Asians. In my interactions with these groups of people, I become the Foreigner, an Other, either as a stereotypical tourist or a conventional immigrant, they do not know I am from Memphis. My own family believes I become too whitewashed by culture. These interactions reflect my sentiment of knowing the familiar and the strange.

This video visualizes the uncanny by recording my actions backwards and playing them forward to correct them. I want to make the familiar subtlety strange, conveying my sense of place through a series of actions. The reverse effect in correcting the actions causes tensions between myself and my body.

I try not to make the video to look like a webcam but at the same time, I treated the camera as such. I feel webcams are able to capture a more vulnerable narrative because they are a part of computers. Unlike actual camcorders, cellphone video and other recording devices, the webcam is a part of something not primarily dedicated to recording. Therefore, I feel that I treat myself differently and in a more confessional manner in front of the webcam.