Lee Chang Ming
(NUS Faculty of Arts and Social Science, 2015 )Lee Chang Ming, an alumnus of the Department of Communications & New Media at NUS Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, is an artist from Singapore who works across photography, publishing, video, and writing. With an interest in themes such as intimacy, gender, environment, and the everyday, Lee's practice contemplates the subjective act of looking and the photographic medium as a process, exploring ideas of optics and haptics. He also runs Nope Fun, an independent publisher and platform focusing on photography and contemporary image making. He is currently an MFA student in the Environmental Art & Social Practice programme at UC Santa Cruz.
Chromatic
2022
Photographic film, sea water, digital print on silk charmeuse and postcards
Digital print on
Silk Charmeuse 84cm x 194 cm
Postcards 10cm x 15 cm
Personal Statement
Chromatic is a series of experimental photograms that looks at the transience of memory and corporeality of photography as a medium. A film roll was accidentally soaked in seawater, destroying the images that were originally captured – resulting in chemically-altered negatives that produced this series of abstracted images. Drawing from my childhood near-drowning experience and the memory of a seeing vivid tunnel of colourful light, I reflect on the materiality of film and its association with life and death.
The series goes beyond perceiving film as a recording medium and delves into its tangible qualities. By emphasizing the materiality of film, it prompts me to consider its significance beyond being a mere tool for image capture and challenges the notion of photographs as objective depictions of reality and truth. As I engage with images, I am reminded of the subjective nature of perception and the potential for manipulation and interpretation in visual representations. Chromatic invites me to contemplate film as both a medium and a physical object. It serves as a reminder for me to acknowledge the materiality of images in my life and appreciate the intricate interplay between their physical form and the messages they convey.
- Excerpts from an e-mail interview between Lee Chang Ming and Wayne Huang.
Chromatic is a series of experimental photograms that looks at the transience of memory and corporeality of photography as a medium. A film roll was accidentally soaked in seawater, destroying the images that were originally captured – resulting in chemically-altered negatives that produced this series of abstracted images. Drawing from my childhood near-drowning experience and the memory of a seeing vivid tunnel of colourful light, I reflect on the materiality of film and its association with life and death.
The series goes beyond perceiving film as a recording medium and delves into its tangible qualities. By emphasizing the materiality of film, it prompts me to consider its significance beyond being a mere tool for image capture and challenges the notion of photographs as objective depictions of reality and truth. As I engage with images, I am reminded of the subjective nature of perception and the potential for manipulation and interpretation in visual representations. Chromatic invites me to contemplate film as both a medium and a physical object. It serves as a reminder for me to acknowledge the materiality of images in my life and appreciate the intricate interplay between their physical form and the messages they convey.
- Excerpts from an e-mail interview between Lee Chang Ming and Wayne Huang.
