Ren Hang & Sarah Mei Herman
Affirmations of Love was made after looking into a variety of different artists and photographers who have captured the notion of love between two people and portrayed the subject of love in many ways. Below are the couple of photographers and their projects that drew me into the production of AOL.
Ren Hang
The late Ren Hang has always been one of the few photographers I look up to. His photography of youth and nudity gave us as the viewers a glimpse of what youth culture is like in China. Behind China's façade of its authoritarian state and ominous political climate, we see the young and carefree celebrate the raw emotion of love. Hang has been arrested several times for his expansive collection of nude photography because it was seen as a challenge against Chinese traditions of homosexuality and nudity. Instead, Hang had only shown the world his view of the young and in love youths, living in their moment in a grand display.
Sarah Mei Herman
Herman's work "Touch" explores the complicated state that exists between friendship and love between students who are going through the transition from adolescence into adulthood. Her work shows the intimacy between the couple who leave their dorm rooms to spend their time together. Herman's work captures the quiet intimacy between them while showing the disruption of technology shown through their time spent looking at their smartphone.
Personally, I felt that this is something present in every culture, the intimacy and fear from transitioning from friendship to love. For some, it's a difficult situation to deal with as the conversation of love is often serious and many aren't ready to talk about it. The weight of falling in love not only carries the tenderness and care for another person, but it also carries the responsibility of sharing your time, vulnerability and space with someone else.
As I looked further into other projects that displayed love, such as Ryan McGinley's work The Kids Were Alright that shows the young and fearless lovers that roam New York city in the 90s and another project that explored love in different cultures, Same Love, it made me want to become a part of this web of photographers that also showed what love is like in whichever geographical location I was in. Being an international student, I was aware that London culture completely new to me, even after living here for half a decade.
Coming from Malaysia, I'm familiar with a culture that accommodates for their friends and family where we come together to have quality time spent together, whether with a stranger or a friend. In the end, we always had time to talk and express our feelings with each other.
London has an almost similar narrative about love where friends and family come together, however, people can be hesitant in some instances. Its culture is fast-paced and constantly energetic, meaning that there isn't a moment to stop and this can hinder the opportunity to appreciate the small things. For instance, someone could feel awkward to express their feelings.
Basically, this is what I want to explore, the awkwardness to express ones feelings and overcoming that. That is why I want to do Affirmations of Love.
