In this two-day program, 2024 Biennial artist Karen Tam and Toronto-based photographer May Truong invite members of Chinese-Canadian communities in Toronto and the Greater Toronto Area to participate in a family photoshoot within Karen’s immersive installation Scent of Thunderbolts. Evoking the historic San Francisco photo studio, May’s Studio, that photographed Cantonese opera performers throughout the early-mid 1900s, this project invites participants to contribute to a community-built archive and define what family and home means to them through the act of having their photograph taken.

We invite participants to consider the meaning of “family” broadly, transcending beyond only immediate, blood relatives to also include intergenerational extended families, chosen kin, and those you share home and time with.

Each participant will be sent a digital copy of their portrait and, with their permission, a copy will be deposited within an archive specializing in Chinese Canadian history (details forthcoming).

Sessions will be available in fifteen-minute intervals and will be booked on a first-come first-serve basis. Sign up below via Google Form.

  • All sessions for October 26 and 27 are currently booked.

Note: As a part of Karen’s larger artistic practice and research, this Program is reserved for Chinese-Canadians within the GTA. Learn more about Karen’s work Scent of Thunderbolts.

Image credit: Installation view of the chrysanthemum has opened twelve times by Karen Tam, Koffler Centre of the Arts, Toronto, 2020. Photography: Toni Hafkenschied.

Date

October 26, October 27

Time

1:00pm – 3:00pm

This venue is wheelchair accessible.

Due to the content of this program, there may be bright and/or flashing lights.

Artist Bio

Karen Tam

Karen Tam (she/her) is a Tiohtià:ke/Montréal-based artist and curator whose research focuses on the constructions and imaginations of cultures and communities. In her installations, she recreates Chinese restaurants, karaoke lounges, opium dens, curio shops and other sites of cultural encounters. Since 2000, she has exhibited her work and participated in residencies in North America, Europe, and China, including the Victoria and Albert Museum, He Xiangning Art Museum, Musée national des beaux-arts du Québec, McCord Stewart Museum, and the Deutsche Börse Residency at the Frankfurter Kunstverein. She has received grants and fellowships from the Canada Council for the Arts, Conseil des Arts du Québec, and the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada. Tam was the winner of the 2021 Giverny Capital Prize awarded by the Fondation Giverny pour l’art contemporain, a finalist for the 2017 Louis-Comtois Prize, a finalist for the 2016 Prix en art actuel from the Musée National des beaux-arts de Québec, and long-listed for the 2010 and 2016 Sobey Art Awards.

Tam holds an MFA in Sculpture (School of the Art Institute of Chicago) and a PhD in Cultural Studies (Goldsmiths, University of London). She is the Adjunct Curator at Griffin Art Projects and a contributor to ‘Asia Collections Outside Asia: Questioning Artefacts, Cultures and Identities in the Museum’ (2020), edited by Iside Carbone and Helen Wang, and ‘The Changing Landscape of China’s Consumerism’ (2014), edited by Alison Hulme. Her work is in museum and corporate collections such as the Irish Museum of Modern Art, Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, Musée d’art contemporain de Montréal, Musée national des Beaux-arts du Québec, Global Affairs Canada (Embassy of Canada in London), Hydro-Québec Art Collection, La Caisse de dépôt du Québec, Collection of the Royal Bank of Canada, TD Group, Microsoft Art Collection, and in private collections in Canada, the United States, and the United Kingdom. She is represented by Galerie Hugues Charbonneau.

Artist Bio

May Truong

May Truong was born on a sinking ship in the middle of the South China Sea. She was almost thrown overboard, but was saved by her father – a kung fu fighter turned ballroom dancer. Her work explores themes of Chinese diaspora, adolescence, and memory.

Based in Toronto, May works in both stills and motions. In her work she explores the themes of race, gender, and belonging.

Donors & Supporters

This program is made possible through the generous support of the Power Corporation of Canada and Eleanor & Francis Shen.