Choi Wong

The Kodak Company has had a major influence on the way we represent ourselves and our families through photography. The emphasis has traditionally been placed on cheerful and happy moments, which is reflected in the well-known expression “The Kodak Smile.” In these smiles, I see a connection to the smiling faces found in stock photography. To me, these stock images symbolize an idealized representation of happiness and of what a successful life should look like. This observation led me to use stock photography, together with a Kodak Carousel projector, as the starting point for this work. Inspired by the disappearance of physical negatives in contemporary digital photography, I specifically wanted to create a series of slides based on stock photographs.

Once I became aware of the public nature of this work, I returned to my archive of found photographs. I selected the images based on my memories and associations with my birthplace. Additionally, I chose to use certain images multiple times, reflecting the idea that memories are constantly changing and are experienced differently by each individual.

Rather than manually obscuring parts of the images with ink, I removed sections using laser cutting. In this way, fragmentations and openings are created that refer both to the fading of memories and to the fact that the full story is never entirely visible to an outsider. At the same time, the circular grid shapes of the slides and the absent circular forms in the etchings establish a visual connection between presence and absence.

The prints were subsequently embroidered into the wooden structure using red rattail cord. When viewers enter the house, they are confronted with fragmented images that reveal only traces of the memories and experiences hidden behind the family portrait. The cord refers to the connection between personal memories and the home; without these memories, a house remains merely an empty structure.