General Entry - Emerging Talent Awards

Inspiration for my work has come from many different directions. The intricate negotiations between people and their surroundings explore many of the same themes that run throughout my work: sexuality and the subtle shadings of gender, the effects of time on the appearance of my subjects, and the fine line between masculine and feminine. Another multi-layered meaning of the subjects in my photographs represent social issues, class conflicts within society and immigration. Reading about social struggles that immigrants have gone through, I have been able to develop ideas and concepts for my portfolio. These struggles are about material, social and emotional survival. I discovered that I have many visions and sources of inspiration during the development of my ideas. I use the photo as anthropology and as an artists' aid to express myself. I want the spectator affected by it too. As a queer person and an immigrant in a masculine dominant culture, I am exploring my identity. Another layer of reference touches the question what it means to be queer and immigrant. Queer people, who wish to affirm both these sexual/gender identities and their membership of an immigrant community are faced with articulating their relationship to the mainstream. There are very little alternatives.