Object number2024.6.2

Constellations XVIII, Whitehaven, Memphis

Date2019

Artist Tommy Kha (American, born 1988)

CultureAmerican

MediumInkjet print

EditionEdition 2 of 5, plus 5 artist's proofs

DimensionsImage: 21 1/2 x 27 in. (54.6 x 68.6 cm)
Sheet: 23 3/4 x 29 in. (60.3 x 73.7 cm)
Matted: 25 3/8 x 31 in. (64.5 x 78.7 cm)

Credit LinePurchase, Advisory Council for Photography

On View

Not on view

Period21st c

Classification(s)

Photograph

ProvenancePurchased from Higher Pictures Generation

Vassar Exhibitions

Care Everywhere: Photography and Print as a Lens on Care

Label TextWorking between his hometown of Memphis, Tennessee and New York City, photographer Tommy Kha often uses artmaking and photography to revisit early memories and as a restorative collaboration with his mother. As a first-generation American, Kha experienced a period of estrangement from his family when he came out as queer and left the South to attend graduate school at Yale University. Kha’s photographs combine classic imagery of the American South while reflecting on his experience as an Asian American, often putting the two in tension. In this piece, created in his childhood home, Kha centers his mother, bridging the strain between them by giving her control, placing the shutter release in her hand. This act gives her agency, modeling a new form of care—one of a son for his mother—in a space that is both familiar and fond, albeit distant. He rehabilitates their relationship by mimicking his childhood habits of using household objects to create something new. The humorous use of props, cardboard cutouts, and vibrant color provides mother and son tools through which to restore their once estranged dynamic through playful, collaborative art making.

Object information is a work in progress and may be updated as new research findings emerge. To help improve this record, please email loebcollections@vassar.edu