0:00:00.566,0:00:03.149
(gentle music)

0:00:13.189,0:00:14.430
- I grew up in Memphis

0:00:14.430,0:00:18.120
and I lived in a neighborhood[br]called White Haven

0:00:18.120,0:00:20.113
for most of my childhood.

0:00:23.850,0:00:26.160
I wasn't really allowed[br]to leave the house,

0:00:26.160,0:00:29.840
so all I knew of Memphis was[br]just, for the longest time,

0:00:29.840,0:00:31.823
just my front yard and the backyard.

0:00:35.950,0:00:39.640
One Halloween, we started[br]to play this superhero game,

0:00:39.640,0:00:41.063
I think it was Batman.

0:00:43.170,0:00:45.370
Because we were just poor,

0:00:45.370,0:00:47.090
we were all wearing the same thing,

0:00:47.090,0:00:48.980
these black garbage bags,

0:00:48.980,0:00:52.370
and mostly having to rely[br]on ourselves and our minds

0:00:52.370,0:00:55.900
and our imagination that if we say it,

0:00:55.900,0:00:57.453
that was enough for us.

0:01:05.030,0:01:06.020
There was this kind

0:01:06.020,0:01:08.680
of weird permission my family gave me.

0:01:08.680,0:01:11.550
It was, "It's okay to assimilate that,

0:01:11.550,0:01:13.880
if you need to learn[br]English, that's great.

0:01:13.880,0:01:17.620
You don't have to hold onto the past

0:01:17.620,0:01:20.847
and maintaining speaking Chinese with us."

0:01:24.280,0:01:25.743
It was them letting me go.

0:01:44.400,0:01:46.930
The every day of, "Where are you from?

0:01:46.930,0:01:48.360
Where are you really from?

0:01:48.360,0:01:49.580
What's your Chinese name?

0:01:49.580,0:01:50.750
What's your Korean name?"

0:01:50.750,0:01:51.817
I'm not Korean.

0:01:51.817,0:01:53.567
"Where are you from?"

0:01:54.859,0:01:55.692
I was asked that constantly as a kid.

0:02:05.554,0:02:07.700
Some people joked that we chose Memphis

0:02:07.700,0:02:11.413
because of Elvis, or because[br]of a similar climate.

0:02:13.970,0:02:16.890
Why my family ended up in[br]Memphis is because of war,

0:02:16.890,0:02:20.913
because of military,[br]because of domestic abuse.

0:02:24.360,0:02:26.530
My family started arriving in the 90s,

0:02:26.530,0:02:29.913
when Memphis started[br]sponsoring Vietnamese refugees.

0:02:33.070,0:02:33.903
- Hi grandpa

0:02:36.900,0:02:41.090
- Hearing my grandmother[br]just scream for no reason

0:02:41.090,0:02:43.910
in the middle of night because[br]a firework got set off,

0:02:43.910,0:02:47.180
or the news of the Oklahoma city bombing

0:02:47.180,0:02:51.293
is something that is very[br]familiar imagery for them.

0:02:59.780,0:03:01.610
It was just the ridiculousness

0:03:01.610,0:03:05.770
of how war really is not only embedded

0:03:05.770,0:03:10.510
in our land and borders, but[br]in ourselves and the kids,

0:03:10.510,0:03:13.160
people that came after our parents.

0:03:13.160,0:03:14.593
How do we talk about it?

0:03:18.221,0:03:20.607
How do we live with it at the same time?

0:03:24.272,0:03:27.772
(gentle music continues)

0:03:39.500,0:03:41.270
I always returned to Memphis.

0:03:41.270,0:03:44.250
Memphis is just like[br]that kind of nexus point

0:03:44.250,0:03:46.490
between mythology and history,

0:03:46.490,0:03:49.030
and sentimentality and memory.

0:03:49.030,0:03:54.030
And it's something to be[br]misremembered in a way.

0:03:57.450,0:04:01.930
Much of my work and my[br]family's history is just that,

0:04:01.930,0:04:03.593
it's bits and pieces.

0:04:04.870,0:04:09.870
It's a continuous sourcing[br]of information and materials,

0:04:10.480,0:04:14.233
and anything that we[br]can gleam of our past.

0:04:19.880,0:04:22.120
- Is it okay if we take your socks off?

0:04:22.120,0:04:23.873
- Take my socks off? Okay.

0:04:27.280,0:04:30.200
- Light looks good to me. I love it.

0:04:30.200,0:04:34.513
All right, I'm gonna just[br]do a quick one right now.

0:04:37.000,0:04:39.460
I started to use cutouts of myself

0:04:39.460,0:04:42.010
and the ambivalence of what it is exactly

0:04:42.010,0:04:45.560
is kind of in between those categories,

0:04:45.560,0:04:48.773
where it is a prop, it is[br]also an extension of me.

0:04:50.310,0:04:52.070
Can you turn your head[br]slightly to your right?

0:04:52.070,0:04:55.193
Thank you. Three, two, one.

0:04:57.930,0:05:01.250
It is kind of a reflection[br]of that fragmentation,

0:05:01.250,0:05:04.350
not of picking up bits and[br]pieces of my family's histories,

0:05:04.350,0:05:06.900
but the materials that present themselves

0:05:06.900,0:05:08.943
and the connections that come through.

0:05:13.340,0:05:17.733
They are very improvised[br]and come from my biography.

0:05:29.984,0:05:32.567
(upbeat music)

0:05:36.457,0:05:39.540
(indistinct chatter)

0:05:48.830,0:05:50.890
I started chasing Elvis tribute artists,

0:05:50.890,0:05:52.620
which is the politically correct term

0:05:52.620,0:05:54.453
for Elvis impersonators.

0:05:57.700,0:06:00.950
It's beyond this kind of[br]impersonation and imitation,

0:06:00.950,0:06:03.893
it becomes transcendent.

0:06:09.910,0:06:12.340
I wanted to make a body of work

0:06:12.340,0:06:14.690
and I wanted to be capable[br]of making a body of work

0:06:14.690,0:06:16.410
that was about representation,

0:06:16.410,0:06:18.430
that talked about pop culture

0:06:18.430,0:06:20.220
and the people's sense of the south

0:06:20.220,0:06:22.803
through these icons like Elvis.

0:06:27.160,0:06:28.960
And it has this kind of influence

0:06:28.960,0:06:31.280
in the way that the idea of Elvis,

0:06:31.280,0:06:35.623
the cut out of Elvis reverberates[br]through my other projects.

0:06:40.315,0:06:43.398
(indistinct chatter)

0:06:47.669,0:06:50.252
(gentle music)

0:06:51.817,0:06:54.950
I think a lot about that[br]photograph commemorating

0:06:54.950,0:06:59.950
the railroad and how they[br]pushed a lot of laborers,

0:07:00.100,0:07:03.000
and especially the Chinese[br]laborers, out of the picture.

0:07:03.000,0:07:06.500
And that kind of[br]invisibility has reverberated

0:07:06.500,0:07:08.313
throughout photographic history.

0:07:09.720,0:07:12.413
How do we see ourselves[br]when we are not represented?

0:07:16.170,0:07:20.140
I think it's a continuous[br]performance as well

0:07:20.140,0:07:24.183
to constantly search for where[br]do I stand in the picture?

0:07:28.830,0:07:30.020
What is the best way

0:07:30.020,0:07:35.020
to arrive at ourselves[br]through photography?

0:07:35.587,0:07:39.087
(gentle music continues)