{"id":84197,"date":"2020-04-06T15:56:05","date_gmt":"2020-04-06T15:56:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.sleek-mag.com\/?p=84197"},"modified":"2020-04-10T10:13:14","modified_gmt":"2020-04-10T10:13:14","slug":"photographer-tommy-kha-cut-outs-family-photos-kisses","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.sleek-mag.com\/de\/article\/photographer-tommy-kha-cut-outs-family-photos-kisses\/","title":{"rendered":"Tommy Kha is rewriting the narrative through cut-outs, family photos and strangers’ kisses"},"content":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":84204,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_kad_post_transparent":"","_kad_post_title":"","_kad_post_layout":"","_kad_post_sidebar_id":"","_kad_post_content_style":"","_kad_post_vertical_padding":"","_kad_post_feature":"","_kad_post_feature_position":"","_kad_post_header":false,"_kad_post_footer":false,"_kad_post_classname":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[11856,139],"tags":[1217,15236,15234,2101,14453,124,154,1850,15235,15237,5848,15233],"class_list":["post-84197","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sleek-art","category-art","tag-america","tag-asian-american","tag-family-photos","tag-gender","tag-marginalised","tag-new-york","tag-photography","tag-queer","tag-return-to-sender","tag-saigon","tag-society","tag-tommy-kha"],"acf":{"main_category":139,"legacy":false,"exclude_from_ads":[],"hero_title":"","subtitle":"The Memphis-born and New York-based photographer is inserting himself into dominant social narratives through a variety of compelling techniques\u2014By Kathryn O'Regan ","hero":{"video":false,"image":false,"header_color":"black","overlay_color":"","overlay_text_color":"black"},"teasers":{"video":false,"image":{"ID":84204,"id":84204,"title":"2018, Sheepshead II, Los Angeles","filename":"2018-Sheepshead-II-Los-Angeles.jpg","filesize":189644,"url":"https:\/\/www.sleek-mag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/2018-Sheepshead-II-Los-Angeles.jpg","link":"https:\/\/www.sleek-mag.com\/de\/article\/photographer-tommy-kha-cut-outs-family-photos-kisses\/2018-sheepshead-ii-los-angeles\/","alt":"","author":"1","description":"","caption":"","name":"2018-sheepshead-ii-los-angeles","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":84197,"date":"2020-04-06 15:01:33","modified":"2020-04-06 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Sheepshead II, Los Angeles","filename":"2018-Sheepshead-II-Los-Angeles.jpg","filesize":189644,"url":"https:\/\/www.sleek-mag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/2018-Sheepshead-II-Los-Angeles.jpg","link":"https:\/\/www.sleek-mag.com\/de\/article\/photographer-tommy-kha-cut-outs-family-photos-kisses\/2018-sheepshead-ii-los-angeles\/","alt":"","author":"1","description":"","caption":"","name":"2018-sheepshead-ii-los-angeles","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":84197,"date":"2020-04-06 15:01:33","modified":"2020-04-06 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Kha, heepshead II, Los Angeles, 2018."}},{"acf_fc_layout":"text_area","text_area":"
\n

\u201cIf there\u2019s pathos there also has to be humour in order to understand basic human experiences,\u201d says Memphis-born and New York-based photographer Tommy Kha<\/a> on the themes at play in his work. This tragicomic dynamic, with its roots in Greek drama, is present in much of the Yale-educated photographer\u2019s work to date. His photographs, which deal with themes related to family, trauma, intimacy and representation, are closely connected to his family\u2019s immigrant status (his family are originally from China; his mother was born in Saigon), and work as an artistic practice because this playfulness more often than not operates as a segway into dark or melancholic ideas.<\/p>\n

This tension between sadness and comedy can be seen in his ongoing series Return to Sender<\/em> (2010\u2013), which was exhibited last autumn at New York\u2019s LMAKgallery. The photographs show Kha being kissed by a string of strangers (over 140 at the time of publication), and draw forth a stream of ideas all tied to the act of kissing, including desire, visibility, intimacy and vulnerability. \u201cThe idea of kissing is a very defined image \u2013 it is a specific image in one\u2019s mind. I guess I really challenged myself. Having other people kiss me, and then having them see the series altogether and how differently people kissed me, motivated me to keep going,\u201d says Kha. The series is strange and stoic, beautiful and sad, lonely and funny, all at once. Through the humble act of the kiss and the accompanying hand and body gestures of Kha\u2019s collaborators, the individual\u2019s relationship with intimacy and desire are exposed; all the while Kha is blank and cooly receptive to their tender touches, dramatic grasps and passionate squeezes.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n"},{"acf_fc_layout":"images","gallery":[{"ID":84201,"id":84201,"title":"2018, Boyz, Williamsburg","filename":"2018-Boyz-Williamsburg.jpg","filesize":235975,"url":"https:\/\/www.sleek-mag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/2018-Boyz-Williamsburg.jpg","link":"https:\/\/www.sleek-mag.com\/de\/article\/photographer-tommy-kha-cut-outs-family-photos-kisses\/2018-boyz-williamsburg\/","alt":"","author":"1","description":"","caption":"","name":"2018-boyz-williamsburg","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":84197,"date":"2020-04-06 15:01:26","modified":"2020-04-06 15:01:26","menu_order":0,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","type":"image","subtype":"jpeg","icon":"https:\/\/www.sleek-mag.com\/wp-includes\/images\/media\/default.png","width":1500,"height":1000,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/www.sleek-mag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/2018-Boyz-Williamsburg.jpg","thumbnail-width":128,"thumbnail-height":85,"medium":"https:\/\/www.sleek-mag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/2018-Boyz-Williamsburg.jpg","medium-width":1500,"medium-height":1000,"medium_large":"https:\/\/www.sleek-mag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/2018-Boyz-Williamsburg.jpg","medium_large-width":1500,"medium_large-height":1000,"large":"https:\/\/www.sleek-mag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/2018-Boyz-Williamsburg.jpg","large-width":1500,"large-height":1000,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/www.sleek-mag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/2018-Boyz-Williamsburg.jpg","1536x1536-width":1500,"1536x1536-height":1000,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/www.sleek-mag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/2018-Boyz-Williamsburg.jpg","2048x2048-width":1500,"2048x2048-height":1000,"trp-custom-language-flag":"https:\/\/www.sleek-mag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/2018-Boyz-Williamsburg.jpg","trp-custom-language-flag-width":18,"trp-custom-language-flag-height":12,"wpvr_mobile":"https:\/\/www.sleek-mag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/2018-Boyz-Williamsburg.jpg","wpvr_mobile-width":1500,"wpvr_mobile-height":1000}},{"ID":84203,"id":84203,"title":"2018, Prince, Midtown Memphis","filename":"2018-Prince-Midtown-Memphis.jpg","filesize":377915,"url":"https:\/\/www.sleek-mag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/2018-Prince-Midtown-Memphis.jpg","link":"https:\/\/www.sleek-mag.com\/de\/article\/photographer-tommy-kha-cut-outs-family-photos-kisses\/2018-prince-midtown-memphis\/","alt":"","author":"1","description":"","caption":"","name":"2018-prince-midtown-memphis","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":84197,"date":"2020-04-06 15:01:31","modified":"2020-04-06 15:01:31","menu_order":0,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","type":"image","subtype":"jpeg","icon":"https:\/\/www.sleek-mag.com\/wp-includes\/images\/media\/default.png","width":1500,"height":1125,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/www.sleek-mag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/2018-Prince-Midtown-Memphis.jpg","thumbnail-width":128,"thumbnail-height":96,"medium":"https:\/\/www.sleek-mag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/2018-Prince-Midtown-Memphis.jpg","medium-width":1500,"medium-height":1125,"medium_large":"https:\/\/www.sleek-mag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/2018-Prince-Midtown-Memphis.jpg","medium_large-width":1500,"medium_large-height":1125,"large":"https:\/\/www.sleek-mag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/2018-Prince-Midtown-Memphis.jpg","large-width":1500,"large-height":1125,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/www.sleek-mag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/2018-Prince-Midtown-Memphis.jpg","1536x1536-width":1500,"1536x1536-height":1125,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/www.sleek-mag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/2018-Prince-Midtown-Memphis.jpg","2048x2048-width":1500,"2048x2048-height":1125,"trp-custom-language-flag":"https:\/\/www.sleek-mag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/2018-Prince-Midtown-Memphis.jpg","trp-custom-language-flag-width":16,"trp-custom-language-flag-height":12,"wpvr_mobile":"https:\/\/www.sleek-mag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/2018-Prince-Midtown-Memphis.jpg","wpvr_mobile-width":1500,"wpvr_mobile-height":1125}}],"settings":{"fit_width":"6","caption":"Left: Boyz, Williamsburg, 2018. Right: Prince, Midtown Memphis, 2018. "}},{"acf_fc_layout":"blockquote","text":"\"The idea of kissing is a very defined image \u2013 it is a specific image in one\u2019s mind.\"","source":""},{"acf_fc_layout":"text_area","text_area":"

\u201cI didn\u2019t want to react in the images because I didn\u2019t want desire placed on my body. I wanted the kisser to be in charge of how they want to look,\u201d explains Kha, with regard to his intentionally detached demeanour in Return to Sender<\/em>. In this way, both the kisser (the strangers) and the kissed (Kha) maintain their own sense of agency. This exercise in power and control is an ongoing issue within Kha\u2019s work in general. While Return to Sender<\/em> received some criticism for perpetuating Asian stereotypes \u2013 namely, that in Western cinema, Asian men are rarely given a chance to be romantic or sensual \u2013 Kha, acknowledging that these critics \u201cweren\u2019t wrong necessarily\u201d, says for him it was \u201cenough\u201d to be the director, photographer and to continuously work on this series over a long period of time.<\/p>\n

As a queer Asian man growing up in the American South, the representation of marginalised communities has always been at the front and centre of Kha\u2019s work. \u201cIn America right now, the conversation is very much about expanding \u2018the narrative\u2019 so that people are creating these kind of stories with people who look like me or people of colour or queer people or everyone who has been marginalised or hasn\u2019t been heard. It\u2019s starting to change very slowly,\u201d he says. As a child and adolescent, Kha remarks that he didn\u2019t see many people who looked like him, which was isolating. Resultantly, a response to this lack of community and representation has understandably found its way into his work. His latest series, Facades<\/em> (2019\u2013), for example, involves the insertion of a cardboard cut-out of his own face positioned over other people\u2019s bodies. \u201cWhen I\u2019m photographing my cut-out image, it\u2019s a way to control the way I\u2019m depicted,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n"},{"acf_fc_layout":"images","gallery":[{"ID":84205,"id":84205,"title":"2019, Exchange Place VI, Midtown Memphis","filename":"2019-Exchange-Place-VI-Midtown-Memphis.jpg","filesize":281012,"url":"https:\/\/www.sleek-mag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/2019-Exchange-Place-VI-Midtown-Memphis.jpg","link":"https:\/\/www.sleek-mag.com\/de\/article\/photographer-tommy-kha-cut-outs-family-photos-kisses\/2019-exchange-place-vi-midtown-memphis\/","alt":"","author":"1","description":"","caption":"","name":"2019-exchange-place-vi-midtown-memphis","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":84197,"date":"2020-04-06 15:01:36","modified":"2020-04-06 15:01:36","menu_order":0,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","type":"image","subtype":"jpeg","icon":"https:\/\/www.sleek-mag.com\/wp-includes\/images\/media\/default.png","width":1500,"height":1875,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/www.sleek-mag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/2019-Exchange-Place-VI-Midtown-Memphis.jpg","thumbnail-width":77,"thumbnail-height":96,"medium":"https:\/\/www.sleek-mag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/2019-Exchange-Place-VI-Midtown-Memphis.jpg","medium-width":1500,"medium-height":1875,"medium_large":"https:\/\/www.sleek-mag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/2019-Exchange-Place-VI-Midtown-Memphis.jpg","medium_large-width":1500,"medium_large-height":1875,"large":"https:\/\/www.sleek-mag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/2019-Exchange-Place-VI-Midtown-Memphis.jpg","large-width":1500,"large-height":1875,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/www.sleek-mag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/2019-Exchange-Place-VI-Midtown-Memphis.jpg","1536x1536-width":1229,"1536x1536-height":1536,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/www.sleek-mag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/2019-Exchange-Place-VI-Midtown-Memphis.jpg","2048x2048-width":1500,"2048x2048-height":1875,"trp-custom-language-flag":"https:\/\/www.sleek-mag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/2019-Exchange-Place-VI-Midtown-Memphis.jpg","trp-custom-language-flag-width":10,"trp-custom-language-flag-height":12,"wpvr_mobile":"https:\/\/www.sleek-mag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/2019-Exchange-Place-VI-Midtown-Memphis.jpg","wpvr_mobile-width":1500,"wpvr_mobile-height":1875}},{"ID":84200,"id":84200,"title":"2017, Headtown-3-NewYorkCity","filename":"2017-Headtown-3-NewYorkCity.jpg","filesize":420023,"url":"https:\/\/www.sleek-mag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/2017-Headtown-3-NewYorkCity.jpg","link":"https:\/\/www.sleek-mag.com\/de\/article\/photographer-tommy-kha-cut-outs-family-photos-kisses\/2017-headtown-3-newyorkcity\/","alt":"","author":"1","description":"","caption":"","name":"2017-headtown-3-newyorkcity","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":84197,"date":"2020-04-06 15:01:22","modified":"2020-04-06 15:01:22","menu_order":0,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","type":"image","subtype":"jpeg","icon":"https:\/\/www.sleek-mag.com\/wp-includes\/images\/media\/default.png","width":1500,"height":1875,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/www.sleek-mag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/2017-Headtown-3-NewYorkCity.jpg","thumbnail-width":77,"thumbnail-height":96,"medium":"https:\/\/www.sleek-mag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/2017-Headtown-3-NewYorkCity.jpg","medium-width":1500,"medium-height":1875,"medium_large":"https:\/\/www.sleek-mag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/2017-Headtown-3-NewYorkCity.jpg","medium_large-width":1500,"medium_large-height":1875,"large":"https:\/\/www.sleek-mag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/2017-Headtown-3-NewYorkCity.jpg","large-width":1500,"large-height":1875,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/www.sleek-mag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/2017-Headtown-3-NewYorkCity.jpg","1536x1536-width":1229,"1536x1536-height":1536,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/www.sleek-mag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/2017-Headtown-3-NewYorkCity.jpg","2048x2048-width":1500,"2048x2048-height":1875,"trp-custom-language-flag":"https:\/\/www.sleek-mag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/2017-Headtown-3-NewYorkCity.jpg","trp-custom-language-flag-width":10,"trp-custom-language-flag-height":12,"wpvr_mobile":"https:\/\/www.sleek-mag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/2017-Headtown-3-NewYorkCity.jpg","wpvr_mobile-width":1500,"wpvr_mobile-height":1875}}],"settings":{"fit_width":"6","caption":"Left: Exchange Place VI, Midtown Memphis, 2018. Right: Headtown 3, New York City, 2017. "}},{"acf_fc_layout":"text_area","text_area":"

\n
\n
\n
For Kha, perhaps the most poetic and powerful of all his subjects is the one in his recent book, Soft Murders<\/em> (2019). De- riving its name from a Susan Sontag quote, \u201cto photograph someone is a subliminal murder \u2013 a soft murder, appropriate to a sad, frightened time\u201d, the tome is a person- al photographic investigation into family trauma. In 1998, Kha\u2019s aunt was murdered, and Soft Murders<\/em> employs the model of a family photo album in order to unravel the inherited impact of this disturbing event. Kha was initially inspired by his mother\u2019s photography after she gifted him a photo album three years ago. \u201cI was really astounded by her straightforward and funny self-portrait work, even though the images had the quality of a family album. I felt like there was something about them that made me want to know more about my moth- er and at the back of my mind, my aunt\u2019s murder, too,\u201d he explains. The book contains a repurposed selection of his moth- er\u2019s work alongside photographs that they made together, many featuring cut-outs of his face, as in Facades<\/em>. By recreating his own version of a family photo album, albeit one heavy with a distressing backstory, Kha was able to work through aspects of his personal history for himself. \u201cI didn\u2019t have a lot of photos of myself as a child and I think that of my family members also. So, I\u2019m trying to collect [their photos] and maintain the imagery of them through my own hands.\u201d<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n"},{"acf_fc_layout":"text_area","text_area":"

This story originally appeared in SLEEK 65\u00a0o<\/a>ut now!<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

Alongside the launch of our spring issue exploring glamour as a \u2018verb\u2019 SLEEK is dropping our \u201cNo one cares if you dress up now\u201d tees. Available to purchase\u00a0here.<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

All images courtesy of Tommy Kha<\/a>.<\/p>\n"}]},"yoast_head":"\nTommy Kha is rewriting the narrative through cut-outs, family photos and strangers' kisses Tommy Kha is rewriting the narrative through cut-outs, family photos and strangers' kisses<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.sleek-mag.com\/de\/article\/photographer-tommy-kha-cut-outs-family-photos-kisses\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"de_DE\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Tommy Kha is rewriting the narrative through cut-outs, family photos and strangers' kisses Tommy Kha is rewriting the narrative through cut-outs, family photos and strangers' kisses\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.sleek-mag.com\/de\/article\/photographer-tommy-kha-cut-outs-family-photos-kisses\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Sleek Magazine\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sleekmag\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2020-04-06T15:56:05+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2020-04-10T10:13:14+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@sleekmag\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@sleekmag\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Verfasst von\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"sleek\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.sleek-mag.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.sleek-mag.com\/\",\"name\":\"Sleek Magazine\",\"description\":\"Sleek is Germany\u2019s leading independent media house\/brand for creativity and innovation located in Berlin the creative capital of the world. 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