For over a decade, JJ Lee has taken ad hoc portraits of participants preparing to march in New Westminster’s Hyack Day Parade.
“I grabbed what film camera I felt good about at the time and headed out to the marshalling area just around the corner from where I lived. I’d catch folks in full regalia but totally relaxed and waiting. So I asked to take their picture. And unlike when they’re on parade, I asked them to dial it down and just relax in front of the camera. And this is what I got.”
The portraits seem to straddle both the casual and the formal and attempt to delve into identity, photographic vision, ethnography, and the idea of evolving communities. There is attention paid to dress and how performance manifests in social rituals. The individuals portrayed here are both “on” and “off” in a way rarely captured in parades.
The images are all full-crop. The whole photo-emulsive area of each photograph make up each image. No pronounced manipulation or editing has been applied to the portraits.
“In truth, I am uncomfortable putting too fine a point on these images. They have to speak for themselves on some level. But I guess each carry their own surprising meaning however problematic and to find out what that meaning is I feel compelled to take the image.”
Exhibition Dates: April 10 – May 5, 2024
Gallery Hours: Wednesday – Sunday, 10:00am – 2:00pm
