Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Linh Tang. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Linh, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today What’s been the most meaningful project you’ve worked on?

My most meaningful projects are also the most bluntly vulnerable work I have done in the span of my photographic career. One of them is a series of photographs that reflect my constant state of mind and the personal experiences that are rooted in my identity. The project called “Kinship” was created with the intention to connect with the viewers and encourage empathy and awareness. The photos’ ambiguity gives the viewers the agency to interpret the presented visuals as well as ideologies.

Kinship is a Tableaux-style photographic series where visual art is used to mimic the emotional experiences of my childhood, coming into such a project is a process of curiosity, introspection, self-awareness and acceptance, and experimenting while being open to whatever the outcome is.

Growing up in post-war Vietnam, generational trauma cemented the need in each of us to define family by an obligation to uphold ideals of loyalty, responsibility, and acceptance. While this gave us a strong sense of community and security, it was also a burden. I grew up to view family as a lighthouse guiding the lost to safety, but also a violent sea of tireless emotional waves.

At a young age, I learned to understand that most things have another underlying implication, another intention. Nothing is entirely one thing. So there’s always lurking tension, unresolved issues that can be triggered, who knows by what. I just knew that there were emotional landmines that could explode at any time. Unable to know what the context of the situation really was, I learned to cope with the anticipation of explosions by observing nonverbal cues so I could avoid them in the future.

This sequence of photographs is a visual exploration of my memories, photographed on 35mm films not only to materialize them but to materialize the nostalgia as well. Like memories, the photographs are fragments, closeups, and inconsistent, with large grain patterns and muted tones. The scenes are staged and take place in a minimal, anonymous space. They are inspired by my early memories which carry tension and stress. The work explores misconnection, the void, tolerance, and contradiction, all within familiar settings. The photographs intentionally reveal minimal context about these relationships, striving to make viewers curious about what is going on outside the frame. This unknowability reflects the experience of my younger self.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

For as long as can remember, visual art allows me the space and tools to fully be myself, which made me feel contemptuous and at peace with my identity. In the process of making art, I learn and heal & create & reborn all at the same time, it is when I am most myself. So naturally I wanted to pursue a creative career, but the journey to becoming a photographer wasn’t a straight road, rather I would consider such an event as serendipity.

I didn’t come from a family of artists, nor knew anyone who follows the creative path, so I couldn’t imagine what I would become as a creative and went to a fashion business school instead since it’s safer. What kept my artistic drive alive during those years was Fashion and animation. Call it fateful or lucky or manifestation, Junior year I took an elective Intro class in Photography class, where I got to create Fashion photographs to my own taste, thus, sparking the beginning of my photographic career. Not only it is the suitable medium that allows me to balance between art and business, but photography also reflects the way I observe, contemplate, and navigate life.

I’m on a mission to create new imagery for our optical perspective with a deep appreciation for the overlooked details. I believe that there is a story wherever the eye may rest translates into projects that highlight objects & events that are usually left unnoticed, experiences that are invisible to the naked eye. Photographs are created to reveal, inspire, trigger, promote, or prove, but I want my photographs to be more than an object to be looked upon. I want it to be a service, to have a functional purpose, and to contribute actively.

Is there something you think non-creatives will struggle to understand about your journey as a creative? Maybe you can provide some insight – you never know who might benefit from the enlightenment.

In my experience, those who have never been on a photo set have a very simplified, watered-down understanding of what it takes to produce a good photograph. It is very easy to reduce the photographic process to a shutter click, the technical basis, and the rule of thirds. Especially in the digital age where everyone owns a camera, demand for images is high and the values for them become low. Those who have been on a photo set know that a good photo is produced out of hundreds of failed ones; and that what makes them good is a symphony of everything and everyone in the room harmonizing at once, and the camera capture that moment. The invisible elements that can only be understood by living it: energy, human connection, thought process, mutual respect, shared passion, persistence, experience, anxiety, bravery, creativity, failures, faith, and hope. A photographer is also the director, the translator, the leader, the businessman, the artist, the innovator, the link between what’s in front of the camera and the viewers. Yet, in many cultures, including mine, there is little respect and even smaller pay for those who go down this path. Being an artist isn’t considered a respectable life path as it does not guarantee a stable income, but when do we start idolizing the result while neglecting the process? Isn’t that like looking forward to the image of our death while we neglect living?

Secondly, I believe that becoming creative is only for the brave as you are stepping into a life full of self-doubt, instability, and inconsistency, offering your mind for public judgment, all because you can see the limitless ways that art can change the world as well as yourself. If art wasn’t important, why are dictators so afraid of them? Books were banned and burned, paintings were hunted down and confiscated, because art carries knowledge. Art has the ability to expand people’s perceptions of reality, it can change minds, influence courage and love. How can an open mind be dictated by one ideology, how can you promote hate to those who love? Art promotes empathy as the artist is sharing their vulnerability, allowing us viewers to feel understood while realizing the depth of human emotion, therefore, realizing the values and impact we and everyone else hold as humans. Art challenges what we thought we know, it humbles us, it unifies us. To be an artist and to appreciate art, one needs to be brave.

Thirdly, artists need to fail in order to succeed. The job of an artist includes being a human instead of a machine. Human needs breaks, needs to fail and experience, needs to emotionally grow through ups and downs, and needs patience and time to heal. In order for something new to be created, there needs to be room for experimentation. Sometimes, the flaws are what invented the new. I think that we get too idealistic and impatient with everything, that we subconsciously expect flawless execution at all times, anything less than is unacceptable. I want to emphasize that creatives need a lot of support and patience from their surroundings. We need second chances and inclusive opportunities in order to do our best.

In your view, what can society to do to best support artists, creatives and a thriving creative ecosystem?

As photographers, we have the responsibility to educate transparently about our process and journey, working together instead and participating in healthy competition, for the better future of the upcoming creatives. And as photographers, we all should be aware that photography was invented to be a colonizing tool. The function of the camera is meant to take, to capture, to shoot and display, a photo does not represent the truth of anything but it is meant to spark curiosity. Know that we have the obligation to dismantle and redirect the original function of photography, think of ways to share what was taken, ways to empower what was captured.

And as a community, I think we can really benefit ourselves by learning about other life paths, understanding how different careers and industries contribute to our future, and investigating what’s outside of our daily bubble. Learning is a lifetime process, I don’t think it stops after you graduate. Also gatekeeping culture is in the past, one way to encourage new creative opportunity is to share the knowledge and nuture young minds, encouraging them to think about what problems they want to solve, instead of what job they want to have and how much money to make.        

Contact Info:

• Website: www.linhtang.info
• Instagram: @chaos.bebe
• Linkedin: www.linkedin.com/in/contactlinh
• Other: Behance: Linh Tang

Image Credits
Personal Portrait: by Yoko Chou Models from personal photographs: Ayanda Dubey, Winnie Wang, Siddhesh Pandey, Naj, Nick Nguyen, Brianna Jones; Lingbin Qiu, Aaron Ratnayeke, Abhinay Pandit, Maeve Sullivan