Artist Statement

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In this series of work, I show 22 ‘Fake Tarot’ cards. They are shown physically during the exhibition ‘G.O.L.D - What the #*@& is Value?’ at Voxfire Gallery. They are also shown one by one & day by day as a game called ‘Fake Tarot of the Day’ on Facebook. From the day of the opening of ‘G.O.L.D’ on 24.2.2012 until 16.3.2012.

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I would like to question as if we understand the value of a person or an event through merely visual representation. Reading a photograph is very similar to the act of interpreting a tarot card. Do we trust the result by only visual elements? Or, indeed, we put our subjective mind onto them?



 

Moreover, all the photos in this series are done by iPhone and its apps. I argue if the extensive use of the smartphone. Because the camera has already become the primary trend of taking daily photos. And if this trend has a significant impact and change in our ways of seeing nowadays. The rapid development of handy photography influences our concept of the documentary. It also challenges the value of high art that was once the main and only concept of photography.

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On the other hand, having ‘Fake Tarot of the Day’ on Facebook is to question the trend of posting a photograph to the public, of which it is trendy now. How do we perceive this habit of sharing a photograph? And how do we define the limit between privacy and publicity?

 

Finally, if photography has become so accessible and easy, does it mean that there is no reason for being an artist with the medium of photography? I don’t think so, not because I see being an artist as supreme or exclusive. Instead, I would like to use the rapid development of photography as a communication tool, which is more acceptable and easier to access with the public.
 

Wai Kit Lam

Hong Kong
2.2012

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