We recently connected with Hsuan Chung and have shared our conversation below.

Hsuan, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. We’d love to hear about when you first realized that you wanted to pursue a creative path professionally.

When I was 11 years old, my mother gave me my first camera. It was a Canon T70, and it was a semi-automatic 35mm film camera. At that time, I knew nothing about photography and cameras, and I thought it was cool to carry a camera with me. From then on, I took this camera wherever I went. Some adults would ask me what film I use, and I didn’t know because I didn’t use one. Until one day, my uncle bought me a few rolls of Fujifilm Superia negatives and taught me how to put them into the camera. After shot with those films, I took them to a photo studio to develop. When I found that I had to wait two weeks, I thought it was time-consuming instead of felt excited.

Two weeks later, I got the developed photos. Looking through those photos, I realized that the camera is a key to the time, connecting yourself at that moment with space and time and then placing them on the film. The process of developing and enlarging photographs is like putting your memories on photo paper, and when you are looking through the photo books, the key opens your memories and brings you back to that time.

So, I keep photographing until now.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your background and context?

I received my Master of Fine Arts degree in photography from Savannah College of Art and Design in 2019. Until then, I felt that art was an aesthetic, and anything that was beautiful could be seen as art. As I approached more and more artists and read a lot of artwork and books, I found that this was an extremely inaccurate idea. Art is very subjective, but it has to be expressed and elaborated in different ways revolving around one theme. I began to specialize in what is the value of art, it can be the social criticism, opinions and comments through topical events, the cognition of value, or the satire, criticism, tribute, interpretation of human morality, etc. I think art is an expression method that exceeds language, and it can always bring up the topic of human nature.

My artwork, in addition to being decorative, I also hope that as art it will inspire the public to change their lives. One of my series, Formosa Aborigines, which explores the history and connection between Taiwan aborigines and the land of Taiwan. I used camera and art to interpret the invisible light and tension. At the same time, I also use this series to let more people see the culture and spirit of Taiwan aborigines, and this series has the honor of becoming one of the collections of National Taiwan Library. It is good that artwork as ornaments improve home quality, but artists would prefer that the story behind their artworks be seen and valued.

Have any books or other resources had a big impact on you?

I think reading is very important, and what I am talking about here is not just looking at some articles aimlessly. In addition to aesthetics, art should have the core values of reflecting or criticizing humanities, society, reality, pragmatism, and so on. Every era has different types of art produced, so we as art creators should keep track of and learn the latest news. Sometimes events that are happening around the world seem to be far away from us, but they actually have a deep impact on our lives.

In addition to the news, I enjoy reading autobiographies by photographers and artists. From this we can see the trials, tribulations, self-doubt and pain that artists experienced before they became famous. At the same time, I found that they all have a persistence and passion for art. Aperture Magazine, LensCulture, ACC Art Books, SHOTS Magazine are some of the great sources. The integration after reading is a source of inspiration for me.

As an artist, inspiration is indispensable. Personal experience, combined with communication, is a tool for exchanging information. There are too many different ethnic groups in the United States, which means that there are many different cultures around us. With so many resources, it’s very inspiring to communicate with different people.

For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?

Everyone has the potential to be an artist, it’s just that the tools we use are different. As artists, we have the ability to concretize what is on our mind and then create a unique work. This work can be affirmed by the world, let more people think about the future, or change people’s future, and leave footprints in the history. I think this is the most valuable thing.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.hsuanchung.com
• Instagram: hsuan_chung
• Facebook: Hsuan Chung Photographer
• Linkedin: Hsuan Chung
• Other: Book: Formosa Aborgines / Hsuan Chung