Artist: Emily Shur
Title: Hollywood Sign, Los Angeles, California
Date: 2004
Size: 20×24 in.
Medium: Digital C-Print
Edition: 5/15
Signed Verso

The Nymphoto Collective is proud to announce its online auction and print sale to benefit the relief effort in Haiti.

The Art for Haiti auction will be coordinated by eBay Giving Works and 100% of the proceeds will go to Partners in Health. The auction & print sale will take place February 27 through March 9, 2010.

Partners in Health is a recognized non-profit organization that, over the course of 20 years, has established 12 medical non-profit facilities in Haiti. Partners in Health is committed to continue to work with the people of Haiti for better health care.

It has been only a month since the earthquake in Haiti, but the press is already beginning to slow down its coverage, which is why the Nymphoto Collective has organized this online auction. The Haitian people have a very long road ahead to recovery. The artists participating in this fundraiser want to show their solidarity and let the Haitian people know that they will continue to support them in the months and years ahead. Some of the participating artists have family and friends in Haiti, and some have built relationships with the Haitian people and culture through photography.

Work by (in alphabetical order by last name) Keliy Anderson-Staley, Nina Büsing Corvallo, Jeff Cate, Rona Chang, Cameron Goodyear, Candace Gottschalk, Laura Heyman, Geoffrey Hutchinson, Hee Jin Kang, Michelle Kloehn, Yijun Liao, Minette Lee Managhas, Tiana Markova-Gold, Stephen Meierding, Maria Passarotti, Suzanne Révy, Jon Shireman, Emily Shur, Brea Souders, Tema Stauffer, Julianna Swaney, Jane Tam, Hidemi Takagi and Jennifer Williams.

This eclectic group of artists has shown in museums and galleries around the world. The fundraiser offers an opportunity for collectors to acquire artwork and contribute to an important cause.

Click here to start bidding on artwork.

Recently I was asked where do I fit in the contemporary art world and how do I contribute to it. These questions threw me off my chair immediately and I was scratching my head nonstop as I tried to think of answers. I don’t even remember what I said anymore and I might have spewed out some verbal garbage about using my photography as a way to discuss issues pertaining to Asian American ethnography and family politics. Add in a lot of “um(s)” and “uhh(s)” into the mix and I probably said something super water-downed.

This is the difference between getting a BFA versus a MFA. During the four years as an undergrad, all you are focused on is making work, experimenting, succeeding, failing, and by the fourth year, you’ll be lucky to realize what you want to do for the future. Professors guide you through trials and tribulations about experimenting and do not expect you to think about where you fit into contemporary art history. Hell, who are you to even think you can make it into a history book? You just need to work and be selfish. Just think and do your work. Figure out how you contribute to art later.

After a few years of sending jpgs and prints over and over again to competitions and contests, it hit me early on that photography is not all about me, it’s also about the person viewing the work. How do I match up with others? What am I lacking? But I’ve struggled and still struggle to find out how to my work fits into photography history. Sometimes it’s easy to ride the Chinese art wave but this is so one-dimensional and I hate it.

Like a confused teenager going through puberty, it’s always been about how and where do I fit in. When am I obviously Chinese, when am I uniquely American, female, young, old, smart, naive, successful, not up to par, etc. When I enter contests or competitions and have other Asian American work against mine, are we too similar? Is there only space for one? Talk about insecurities, huh?

I have a long way to go and doubt always cross my mind. My competitive nature keeps me grounded and I hope these questions of fitting in don’t stop. I believe the day I figure it out is the day I stop questioning. I’m sure I have other open-ended, head-scratching questions ahead of me in the near future so I should keep this post in mind and not stumble into the pitfalls of verbal garbage.