Faces of My PastAlbert Chong, Faces From My Past (2010)

Artist's Statement  Chong photo

This work utilizes the power of the human’s ability for individual facial recognition as well as the cognitive abillity to recogize the larger image that is created using hundreds or thousands of images. 

The individual photographs of faces function as pixels in the construction of the larger image. The faces in the photographs were culled from my archive of prints, film negatives and positives (slides).

These faces are family, friends, acquiantances, colleagues, artists, and strangers. All have passed before my camera and been photographed intentionally and sometimes unintentionally. The work is inherently selfish in that it functions primarily for the mnemonic recall of individuals in my life that photographs trigger. The work is for me is like a stroll down ‘Memory Lane’ in which I recognize all the faces in the photo-mosaic and the flood of memories that the viewing unleashes.

~ Albert Chong, Professor of Art and Art History and Ethnic Studies Faculty Affiliate, April 15, 2016

Note: The piece in its entirety is located outside the Ethnic Studies main office (Ketchum 184).