Photographer Kurt Tong, another fine example of Hot Shot-turned-20x200-artist, is presently enjoying a hot streak of exhibition opportunities, recognitions and accolades from across the pond. A few of the places and exhibition venues where Kurt's work can be seen this summer follow below:
Hong Kong Chronicles
Kurt Tong: The Queen, the Chairman and I
Diorama Rue Raspail, 26 Rue Raspail, Arles, France
July 3-10, 2010
Event details
Memories, Dreams; Interrupted
Photofusion
July 29 - September 17, 2010
17a Electric Lane
London SW9 8LA
In Case It Rains In Heaven
Kemistry Gallery
August 2010
43 Charlotte Road, Shoreditch
London EC2A 3PD
This body of work will also be exhibited in November at Compton Verney
November 13 - December 12, 2010
Warwickshire
CV35 9HZ
Kurt Tong was also listed as a finalist in the Flash Forward Emerging Photographers 2010 awards. A book launch and festival will occur this fall; more information here.
Kurt's portfolio features several distinct bodies of work, and while projects differ in many ways, they remain related in voice, concern and questions. There is an ever-present desire to connect viewers with culture and difference through the personal, and his images consistently reflect a non-saccharine sensibility and sensitivity. What does it mean, for example, when a ritual offering for the dead that has been in place for centuries is now changed in its type and scope of offerings by the the hyper-consumerism of a fast-accelerating middle-class bent on having the latest Western goods? How can an artist represent a collective cultural history through the filter of one family—his own?
Untitled, from the series In Case It Rains In Heaven, by Kurt Tong
Untitled, from the series In Case It Rains In Heaven, by Kurt Tong
Untitled, from the series Farewell in Labrador, 2010 by Kurt Tong
In spending time with Kurt's work, I get a sense of someone that is not only invested in creating strong images, but also in following the arc of a story through a series of questions that become realized in the making. Through his photography, Kurt seems to be telling us that all photographs are stories, that all narrators are simultaneously reliable and not, and that history, like memory, is a fickle beast.
If you're lucky enough to be spending some of the summer at the photofestival in Arles, or the fall art season in London, be sure to make some time for a stop at one one the many venues that Kurt Tong's work will be shown this season.