KANTA Portraits: March 2018

2018-03-25

Art Residency at Studio 94, Taipei in May 2018

Come May 2018, will be heading back to Taipei, Taiwan to start an art residency with Studio 94, Thermos Foundation. The art piece 'Dinding Potret Kanta 2014-2017' will be shipped over for an exhibition with other selective works that I would be able to bring along. I will be producing some prints there. As well as two expeditions to the South of Taiwan to visit two very different and distinctive tribes. The Rukai tribe of Wutai, Pingtung District and Tao (Yumi) tribe of Lanyu island, Taitung District.

A lot of preparations ahead before I would be ready, but here is to the start of the 'Beyond Borders; Portraits from the Edges of Malaysia', expeditions to Taiwan.

http://www.garden91.org/studio94.html

Studio 94, Taipei

photo expedition to two locations

2018-03-23

Camping Training at Taman Negara

My first camping experience, hiking to three different sites with a 10kg backpack. Training for future trips, heading into the interiors. Gua Gajah / Elephant Cave, where wild free roaming elephants come to mine for salt minerals.

backpack after 4 days on the trail

cave camping at Gua Gajah, Elephant Cave

river crossings

wild free-roaming elephants

Jeffrey JC Lim

Jeffrey Lim’s exploration into photography started with the family’s point & shoot film-camera and the stories behind their black & white photographs. It was later in art school that he discovered the magic of the darkroom and explored deeper into the craft of image-making & printing.

He started experimenting with self-made box cameras utilising pinhole and lenses, and also explored using century-old box cameras, crossing between different mediums and methods to producing an image. At the same time, he started researching his family’s roots through interviews and photographs.

After watching the Afghan Box Camera Project video in 2011, he was inspired to design and build variants of the Kamra. Starting the project Kanta Box Kamra, he built the first four prototypes. He then developed new techniques in reproduction & printing after visiting the exhibition Retrato Popular, Sesc Belenzinho, and studying the Lambe-Lambe cameras of Brasil, he built several other prototypes.

In 2017, he started Kanta Portraits to explore the concepts of identity and the national-construct. Travelling to different parts of the region and many different indigenous communities, he recorded their narratives and in return, gave instant portraits. He is currently archiving the portraits and reflecting on the journey in the hopes of producing an exhibition and publication.

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2018-03-25

Art Residency at Studio 94, Taipei in May 2018

2018-03-23

Camping Training at Taman Negara