The camera, as we use, with all the constraints and habits accumulated over the history of photography, is a cultural, sociological, engineered construct. However, what happens inside a camera, which is essentially a dark box with a hole, is a natural phenomenon of light, time, and movement.  The attempt is to convey such phenomenon in my photographs, so that the work becomes more like a black hole where information gets absorbed and erodes in the process of communication, and fails to emit any message.

My approach to making work is akin to the way a scientist designs her experiment.  Once a set of parameters are understood and defined, one can observe then, how the free agent behaves in this controlled setting.  With the recent body of work from my studio, all the photographs are of the same corner.   There is an almost oppressive sense of immobility, being held by the fixed gaze of the one-eyed camera and further yet, in front of a corner, a half-box.  What I hope is to make the free agents, in this instance, light and time, which are also space and movement, more palpable.

 

Sophia Chai received her MFA in photography from University of Illinois at Chicago in 2002 and her BA in chemistry from the University of Chicago in 1996.  She currently lives and works in New York City.

sophiaechai@gmail.com