Artist Statement
My grandparents use to stand my cousin and I back to back to see who was taller. Jeannie and I were born on the same date and celebrated our birthday together at our grandparents’ house before we were even able to walk. As I grew older, these types of family gatherings became less frequent. My parents had to work daily to support my siblings and I. They didn’t have the time to drive us to see our extended family. Sundays use to be family days; we would head to mini-Chinatown in Brooklyn to eat morning dim sum and shop for grocery afterwards. The family grows further apart, seeing each other less and less, and it became a chore to organize dinner together or even visit the grandparents. The concept of family is rooted in Chinese culture due to the responsibility weighted on the younger generations to care for the senior counterpart. In Western civilization, eighteen is the age of freedom from the home and family responsibilities. However, being born Chinese American, the line between is often hard to define.
My images allow me to step back and examine my family and the spaces they occupy. I focus on every aspect of creating a home; exploring every room as if I can learn more about the people who occupies the space. Being Chinese American, I have evolved to adjust and assimilate to American culture, but at the same time, I’m slowly losing my roots.
From this series, I detach my role as a member of the family and examine the aspects that make a home. I construct the images to demonstrate the unique qualities that make my home specifically Chinese, however also showing the commonness between homes in general. With portraits of family members, it is a source of rekindling the intimacy and comfort of the past. The tin-foiled kitchen can be overwhelming to strangers but it is rooted in my family culture to curb oil splatter off the wall. Watching television in my parents’ bed is an example of a common activity demonstrated in pop culture. We feed our brain with knowledge from the tube.
Photographs ranged from being shot with a digital SLF to 6x7 to a 4x5 field camera. Since this series is ongoing, the size of the installation is unclear to me. Most images is best presented at least 16’x20” and can be scaled to 20”x24” if original was show in large format. This ongoing series is an examination in they lack of intimacy between the generations born in China and those born in America. It is also a look into my family history, seeing the charm and character of every individual decision that makes a home.
Captions
Jane Tam, Mom with Grandparents, 2007, inkjet print, 12”x14”
Jane Tam, Grandparents’ Dining Room, 2006, inkjet print, 16”x20”
Jane Tam, Kitchen, 2006, inkjet print, 16”x20”
Jane Tam, Dining Room, 2006, inkjet print, 16”x20”
Jane Tam, Self Portrait on Parents’ Bed, 2007,inkjet print, 12”14”
Jane Tam, Grand Aunt in her Apartment, 2007, inkjet print, 12”x14”
Jane Tam, Cousin’s Slippers, 2006, inkjet print, 16”x20”
Jane Tam, Bathroom, 2006, inkjet print, 16”x20”
Jane Tam, Grand Aunt’s Bathroom, 2007, inkjet print, 12”14”
Jane Tam, Garden into the House, 2007, inkjet print, 16”x20”
