Tommy Khase interessou pela fotografia quando criança, usando uma câmera descartável em férias em família. Ele se formou em equipamentos mais sofisticados, obteve um BFA no Memphis College of Art e um MFA em fotografia pela Yale School of Art e recebeu uma bolsa de estudos da En Foco, uma organização sem fins lucrativos que promove a fotografia contemporânea, de arte e documentária por diversos artistas. O trabalho de Kha apareceu em Vice , Pintores undefinedmodernos e hiperalérgicos, além de ser incluído no projeto “We Think Alone” de Miranda July. Seu show solo, Return to Sender , vai até 20 de outubro na LMAK Gallery, no Lower East Side de Manhattan.
Para registrar a celebração do Orgulho de Nova York no último domingo de junho, Kha usou sua experiência como um queer asiático como filtro, narrando o dia da perspectiva de seus amigos e recém-chegados na Marcha pela Libertação do Queer e em outros lugares da cidade. Conversamos com Kha sobre como seu histórico afeta seu trabalho e como sua experiência com o Orgulho foi um microcosmo de como ele vê o mundo.
What was your approach to covering Pride for this assignment?
TK:
I got up at 6am and started shooting by 7:30am. I met up with [my friends] Drew and David in Bushwick and then went right over to Stonewall, where everyone was lining up [for the Queer Liberation March]. Then I went back to Brooklyn. It was really right up my alley to experience little bits and pieces of events—my kind of slice-of-life, mumblecore work. I’m really anxious and preoccupied as a person, and always stimulated by different things. I don’t see the big picture; I see lots of different aspects.
How would you describe your process for these photos?
TK:
I shot it with a new camera, a Pentax 645Z medium format. [The subject matter] is across the board, though primarily it focuses on queer Asian figures. Half were friends of mine, some in Brooklyn and others in Manhattan. Some were strangers I just saw through the day or that I met at a party.
You chose not to be in any of your Pride portraits.
TK:
I know—and that’s funny because I’m known for
. It was refreshing, actually! Part of it was practicality: I was running all over town and I didn’t have an assistant, so it would have been really hard to be in them and shoot them. But I think a lot of Pride is experiencing other people, and I wanted to convey that.
I love the play of light in the portraits of the gay Asian couple.
TK:
That’s my friends David and Drew—they’re just friends. I somehow luck out with people who aren’t all that familiar with photography but who manage to hold still for a long time. I shoot with long exposure, which heightens gestures, and I like to use available light. The effect is this great, kind of unintended collaboration.
Where did you find that garden wall you photographed?
TK:
I came across these flowers all covered in plastic bags—it reminded me of when people put plastic on their couches to preserve them. It kind of reminded me of a funeral. I didn’t realize at first that it was this commercial, sponsored thing—I was just seduced by the flowers.
Tell me about photos of the people you had just met during Pride.
TK:
The unplanned stuff is so delightful. There was a woman who was very political—she wanted to show me her tattoos about the abortion ban. The different stories I had to glean, they’re just very beautiful and I wanted to capture that. Some people were there to protest, others to celebrate and some were just taking in the pleasure of being with other bodies.
Had you been to New York Pride before?
TK:
This was my first! Well, technically my second. But the last time I couldn’t see anything. I’m really too short to see the parade unless I camp out and get a spot right up front. So this was my real first time getting to see it from so many different perspectives, like people lining up in the morning, and the Stonewall Inn before it was overrun with people. It was liberating.
When you were growing up in Memphis, how was Pride different down there?
TK:
I think it’s more my experience of it was different: I went to Memphis Pride back in 2006. We had conversion therapy camps down there. I was young and not completely out, maybe more cautious.
Is Memphis still home for you?
TK:
Yeah, in a way it always will be. I grew up in Memphis for 22 years. I feel most comfortable there. But I’m always learning new things and meeting new people there, too—I’m interviewing others who lost people in the AIDS crisis. I’ve been hanging out with this Mississippi Delta Asian group that I knew nothing about. I still go back and forth to Memphis periodically. I photograph my mom as much as I can when I’m there.
