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Even though the Universe around us is objectively singular in existence, each individual pair of eyes perceives the world in a way completely unique to their own. Through the different perspectives people possess about this world we coexist in, all of our subjectivities come together to paint a magnificent zoomed-out picture of an objectivity we can never fully comprehend. As a mere piece of that puzzle, my shutter finger is informed by my preconceived worldview, opinions, emotions, and knowledge bases. It has always been and it will always be, and I will always try my absolute best to keep it that way. For the longest time during the beginning stages of my photography journey, I wanted to strive to be an objective photographer, one that attempts to showcase the beauty of the world as it hypothetically purely is, and as everyone is theoretically perceiving it. My reasoning was that, due to the nature of humanity being inherently individualistic, the world as it progresses and as we’ve been introduced to it had always been extremely saturated (photography pun much intended) with individualism, and the Universe as it exists simply acted as a blank canvas for individual brushes with infinitely many sizes and styles of expression to freely paint upon. I, initially, preset a thirst to get to the bottom of that blank canvas, to observe and listen in order to follow each brush stroke back to its source(s), and get to the bottom of what an initial ‘blank canvas’ would look like, and in a very corny sense that idea had led to my endless pursuit of astrophysics, cosmology, and photography. As I grew older and simultaneously into a more mature photographer/artist, I realized that that endeavor might be eternally fruitless. On a micro-social level, while it is true that everything around us is a formation of an individual or a group’s extremely subjective approaches informed by their own preconceived worldviews, as an observable result on a more macro-social level, the pieces fit together seemingly seamlessly and in turn form an ‘objective’ overall picture, effectively minimizing the importance of any conflict, difference, or mismatch that each micro-level piece has with one another. The Universe presents its magnificence in the chaos that it receives from so many channels, and in the midst of all of these chaotic points and subjective approaches to the world coming together, patterns emerge, and beauty is revealed in an outward zoom from a grandiose fabric of chaotic infinity.
This particular presentation of my insignificant patch amidst this fabric is my best attempt yet to paint a harmonic imitation picture of the most prominent influences of my upbringing and my character. The muted, saturated look of a pseudo-retro modern neon urban setting is what I’ve grown to love so much. My upbringing in the heart of the Indochina capital of Saigon, Vietnam has also had a profound influence on this directionality, since this city I call home - Saigon - was one that underwent rapid urban industrial and technological expansion upon the basis of a myriad of both Eastern and Western influences since as recent as 1995/96. Among those influences has always been a vibrant civilian night life that prevails throughout every single period of institutional, governmental, and cultural change. Admittedly, my hometown can be quite loud, obnoxious, uncaring, and depressing at times with all of the outdoors karaoke, smelly and busy street food corners, drunkards shouting and catcalling random women, indoor bars completely gassed with fog machines projecting laser light shows alongside a choice of the most generic and uncreative electronic dance mashup music, empty cannisters of cheap beer littered across every sidewalk accessible within a reasonable radial distance of a pub. But it does also serve to display the vibrance (another cheap photography pun, I know) and the ‘full-of-life-ness’ of our city night life, directly influenced by Hong Kong and the likes due to a massive Hong-Konger population and its cultural presence. Nevertheless, I shall digress.
As a Neon Child, night life is extremely important to me. The night is when everyone and everything lets their guard down, when all facades we put up in the name of productive human advancement are stripped down, and people return to their truest and most comfortable states. When darkness settles, only the most vibrant characteristics of humans and locations come through. My camera is present simply to observe, capture, and appreciate. Through my artistic appreciation of these most beautiful human frames and moments, I do vainly hope I can tap into anyone’s curious eyes and show them how magnificent humanity and the world can be, even though I myself struggle to grasp the fact more often than I would ever be willing to admit.
I decided to sing.
My melody was the combined work of healing, growth, and capturing art. My life became an art piece that I have been hard at work to refine. One result of which is this photographic album, comprising more than 600 raw photos shot and 2 months of post-processing that resulted in 114 photos, the best and most representative of which are chosen and portrayed here. Purely artistically, these are not meant to stand together in this album, but I had made an effort to portray each piece as its own standalone piece. The combined album signifies my collective story of recovery and discovery, and that might be considered a bigger piece in and of itself.
Composing this album, I drew much inspiration from American painter Edward Hopper's desolate depiction of the every day, highlighting inherent loneliness and solitude throughout every single frame of life. The "urban bubbles" influence from Hopper's work translated into the "isolated-frame" style of photography I have been growing towards ever since my own photographic album more than three years ago titled Frames of the Abyss. I was also touched by the vibrance and multi-layered compositions of London-based photographer Joshua K. Jackson. His masterful crafting of psychological labyrinths throughout each of his individual frames, coupled with vibrant and soulful urban elements creates a unique harmony of the London seasonal rhythms. At the end of the day though, my photographic philosophical influence, the driving force behind the bulk of my artistic exploration came from the journey and the longforms of British photographer Sean Tucker. Discovering snippets of his trauma and life experiences that I can relate extremely well with, and following his two decades' worth of knowledge, trial and error, and explorations, both in terms of photography and life philosophy, I will always hold a lot of admiration for this piece of battle-worn artist and human, and will keep following this goliath of a personal influence for my years and years to come.
I don't know if I had lost my innocence throughout this experience.
One thing I’m sure about is that I have regained that child in me.
That child who finds beauty in every corner of the street.
That child who listens to every story and appreciates every frame of reference among the abyss of human life.
That child I’ve long lost and recently found.
I am welcoming him back home with my arms wide open.
I will never let him go again.