Mind Matters: An Interview with Photographer John Clang

Singaporean-born New York-based photographer John Clang is known for his low-tech style; resisting the temptations of Photoshop, he prefers instead to hand-cut and paste images together. Working mainly with the idea of accessibility, challenging the barriers between the artist and the audience, his ongoing series “(Re)Contextualizing My Mind” (1996– ), now on view at Pékin Fine Arts in Hong Kong, brings forth a different side of the artist. The photographs here show poetic translations of Clang’s thoughts, and the images featured are equally abstract. Though he declines to identify them this way, the works feel like a walk through the artist’s visual diary. On the occasion of the exhibition, ArtAsiaPacific spoke with Clang briefly about his work and his passion for archiving.

Could you elaborate on the idea behind “(Re)Contextualizing My Mind” ?
I’m constantly seeking the void and trying to fill it with the images I make. For example, I enjoy being lonely and have the feeling that my heart is being crushed. I like that feeling because it makes me feel alive. I know that moment will be temporary, but I cherish it. I try to capture these kinds of feelings in the images that I make.

What made you start this series 18 years ago?
It was a way for me to give sources to historians and let them know about things that are going on in the world, other than the news related issues that are easier to look up.

How do you decide on the photos you want to make for the series, which feelings do you want to capture? 
All the works here are based on an observation. It may not be the exact replica of what I have seen, but the feeling and the moment of taking a photograph is the same. There’s no way I could create this project in one year because there’s no way that I would feel all the things I’ve felt, what the images are based on, in such a short time period. 

Lipstick 52 (2014) is a picture of a certain shade of Yves Saint Laurent lipstick. What is the feeling that you wanted to share with this image?
Lipstick 52 is based on the Korean television series My Love from the Star.  The main character of the show wears this lipstick and the series is so popular in the United States and Korea that this particular color sells out really fast and is quite difficult to find anywhere. It took me four different countries and over 30 stores to find the lipstick in an airport near Paris. This piece is all about how empty we are and how we are all effected by popular culture. I’m not interested in the film itself, but more in the effect that it has on people. When historians see this work, they will ask themselves: ‘Why No. 52?’ then they will find out that there was this drama-series that everybody was so crazy about.

When do you anticipate the next installation of the series being ready?
I can’t tell. I don’t feel like I’m finished. It could be in two years, or take another 18.

John Clang’s “(Re)Contextualizing My Mind” is on view at Pékin Fine Arts in Hong Kong through to July 12, 2014.

Kitty van Leeuwen in a writer based in Hong Kong.