PROVENANCE
Vancouver Chinatown Foundation

Ken Lum is an internationally renowned multidisciplinary artist known for his conceptual and representational work in painting, sculpture, photography, writing, teaching, and curation. His thought-provoking body of work explores complex societal issues influenced by systemic hierarchies based on race, class, and gender. Lum's wry and incisive text and image compositions are central to his oeuvre. Pairing photographic elements with bold typography against monochromatic backgrounds, these works create a tension that goes beyond visual aesthetics, challenging viewers to confront their own perspectives and biases, augmenting their individual experience of the work.

Lum has a strong connection to the Chinatown community of Vancouver, where his parents worked at local businesses. The image captures an elderly Chinese woman in the Strathcona Community Garden, deep in thought, perhaps reflecting on her life and the distance in time and space between her birthplace and where she stands today, as well as the fleeting nature of existence. The thoughtfully paired text is an excerpt from a famous poem by Ruan Ji, a celebrated poet from the Eastern Han dynasty (25 AD to 263 CE [formerly AD]), emphasizing the transient nature of life.

This photograph, Lau Hoi Ting Recalls a Poem of Her Youth, was specifically created for the Vancouver Chinatown Foundation’s 58 West Hastings project - an innovative social housing and health care facility that recently opened earlier in 2024. The consignor proceeds of sale will benefit the Vancouver Chinatown Foundation.

This work is edition 1/2 and there is also an A/P.

All prices are in Canadian Dollars

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