Bensonhurst, Brooklyn Houses, 2008, from Foreigners in Paradise, © Jane Tam

Just wanted to update you all on some upcoming shows and what I’ve been up to.

This Friday, November 6th, I will be in a two-person exhibition with the talented Shen Wei at Nemo Design Gallery in Portland, Oregon. I will be showing ten photographs from my “Foreigners in Paradise” project.

From the website:
Nemo Design is proud to present the work of acclaimed photographers Shen Wei and Jane Tam in Reflecting China: Gendered Visions from the Diaspora. Reflecting China combines work from Shen Wei’s Chinese Sentiment Series with Jane Tam’s Foreigners in Paradise Series. The result is a collection of work that explores issues of Chinese identity, gender, diaspora, cultural memory, imagined communities, longing and belonging. Both artists have been internationally recognized for their work. Shen is the recipient of many awards and was named as one of fifteen in the “new generation of photo pioneers” by American Photo magazine in 2007 as well as, one of the PDN’s “30 New and Emerging Photographers to Watch” in 2008. Jane Tam was awarded with the Emerging Photographer Award at the Pingyao Photography Festival in China.

Reflecting China is part of the community programming for the Portland Art Museum’s China Design Now exhibit.

At the end of this year, I’m taking a trip to Hong Kong to continue my “Asleep At Sea” series. It will be about 2.5 weeks of shooting and I’m so excited for it!

After the new year, I am also showing work at the Fotofest Biennial 2010. The show, “Whatever Was Splendid,” is curated by Aaron Schuman, of Seesaw Magazine and incorporates an amazing roster of artists that I am most humbled to be included with.

From the website:
Aaron Schuman explores the legacy and continued influence of a “thoroughly modern photographic figure,” Walker Evans. “The striking similarities between Evans’s time and our own have become all too clear,” says Mr. Schuman. “Bearing this in mind, I began to investigate his profound influence on how the United States is still responded to, regarded, recognized and represented within photography today.” The artists in Mr. Schuman’s exhibition are: Will Steacy, Michael Schmelling, Greg Stimac, Tema Stauffer, Jason Lazarus, Jane Tam, Richard Mosse, Craig Mammano, Todd Hido, Hank Willis Thomas, and RJ Shaughnessy.

Reflecting China: Gendered Visions from the Diaspora
Two-Person Exhibition with Jane Tam and Shen Wei
Nemo Design Gallery
1875 SE Belmont St.Portland, OR 97214
Nov. 6 – 23, 2009
Opening Reception: Nov. 6, 2009 from 6-10pm

Whatever Was Splendid
Fotofest Biennial 2010, curated by Aaron Schuman
Vine Street Studios
1113 Vine Street
Houston, Texas
March 12 – Apr 25, 2010

Free photographic print, 5×7 on archival inkjet paper, from Asleep at Sea, © Jane Tam

I’m planning to sell a few prints soon to offset costs for finishing my Asleep at Sea project. My trip to Vietnam has been canceled due to unfortunate circumstances but my trip to Hong Kong is still on. Before I finalize which prints to offer for sale, I want to gift a print to a reader.

Please send an email your name and mailing address to jane (at) janetam.com with the subject: weekend print gift.

***The photograph has been requested. Thanks!

Hope the first reader who responds enjoys it!

Three Stray Dogs, Lau Fau San, Hong Kong, from Asleep at Sea, © Jane Tam

Daniel Cooney asked me to participate in the Emerging Photographer’s Auction this time around, and I am certainly in good company. The image above is up for bidding over at iGavel. Nymphoto cohort, Maria Passarotti, is also participating!

I wouldn’t have been able to go to Lau Fau San by myself last winter. My aunt’s best friend lived in the outlying islands of Hong Kong and is lucky enough to have a car. They drove us to this area, known for oyster farming and fresh seafood. It is also an area where many films were shot because it is one of the few old-school seafood markets. Nowhere close to the city and secluded from everything. The ocean looks out over to a distant bridge that connects Hong Kong to mainland China. I was so close that even my phone service changed to mainland China. This area, although very rural, reminds me of what my parents and grandparents grew up knowing, or from what I hear. Hopefully I can return and visit the actual villages of my relatives someday.

I hope you look through all the auction lots. There is certainly a fair amount of good work. Whether you bid on my image or not, I’d suggest investing in art. Invest in what you like and can’t live without. Spread the news.

On a trip to Lamma Island, Hong Kong © Jane Tam

If only I was sighing in relief.