photo_talks: What Moves You?
Charmaine Poh
In this conversation between Mengwen Cao and Charmaine Poh, two artists reflect on their respective multidisciplinary practices and their similarities, particularly in their desire to create spaces for vulnerability and tenderness.
Having both come from a documentary photography background, they will discuss how their practices have evolved to include experimental modes of making, from conceptualisation to process. Concerned with themes of visibility, performativity, and the queer body, the two artists question what it means to make art in this critical moment in history, and to carve out their own spaces in the world. Please note that this photo_talk will begin at 11am EST (instead of 2pm), because Charmaine Poh is participating from Singapore.
Charmaine Poh works across photography, film, and performance to create spaces for narratives in the margins. Central to her practice is considering the performativity of the everyday, and the ways tenderness can be a form of resistance and rebuilding of worlds. Her practice often employs ethnographic methods in working with communities to establish processes of co-authorship and sharing.
Her work has been supported by the M1 Singapore Fringe Festival, the Singapore International Photography Festival, Objectifs Centre for Photography and Filmmaking, The Taipei Arts Festival, The International Center of Photography, Photoville, WeTransfer, and The New York Times, among others. In 2019, she was recognised as one of Forbes Asia 30 under 30 – The Arts, and one of CLEO Magazine‘s Changemakers. She graduated with an M.A. in Visual and Media Anthropology from the Freie Universität Berlin, and a B.A. in International Relations from Tufts University.
charmainepoh.com
Mengwen Cao is a Chinese-born, New York-based photographer, multimedia artist, and cultural organizer. As a queer immigrant, they use care and tenderness to explore the spaces between race, gender, and cultural identity. As a board member of Authority Collective and a founding member of Chinese Storytellers, Cao is championing diverse narratives and perspectives in the media industry.
Their projects have been featured in publications like The New York Times, NPR, and Neocha. They have participated in exhibitions including Photoville, Jimei Arles, and Lianzhou Foto Festival. They were selected as one of the six global talents in Asia by World Press Photo’s 6x6 program in 2020 and received NLGJA’s Excellence in Photojournalism Award in 2019. They were recognized by The Lit List in 2018 and PDN 30 New and Emerging Photographers to Watch in 2019.
Mengwen teaches Multimedia Love Letter for StrudelmediaLive.
