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Wing Young Huie: In his own words

Listening to photographer Wing Young Huie discuss his work is a privilege.
He has the rare ability to view his art with distance, to cast the same skeptical gaze upon his images as the dispassionate passersby. He speaks about his images with an unlikely wisdom that seems contrary to what we know, or think we know, about photography.
To view his work, visit www.wingyounghuie.com.

On the notion that pictures can’t lie
“That’s one of the biggest lies there is. Photographs have a connection to reality, an aspect of realism. But, of course, most photographs reflect the person who took them rather than the subject. Photographic truth is just a fallacy. What a photo does is describe the surface of things.”

On what images make the best photographs
“I like photographs where the presence of the photographer is not so present. The best photos appear as if they took themselves.”

On the power of photography
“A photograph has much more visual power than any other visual medium, I believe. You think about the most famous paintings about the horrors of war Ñ how much impact do they really have? But if you think about the pictures of Abu Ghraib, they’ve done more to change America’s opinion of itself and challenge what the world thinks of America. The picture of the guy in the hood ... is maybe the most important image taken in the past 10 years.”

On a photographer’s responsibility to the subject
“After ‘Frogtown’ (Huie’s 1998 exhibit), I realized I cared more about the photo than the people in the photo. ... I started to worry that people were only fodder for my camera. So, when I did ‘Lake Street’ (Huie’s follow-up to ‘Frogtown’), I worried I would lose my edge and be too nice to people. You have to be responsible. But, ultimately, your responsibility is not to the people you photograph, but to your art.”

On why he focuses on diversity
“Lake Woebegone is an ethnocentric creation Ñ and it’s brilliant. But it’s become embedded in Minnesota culture to a point where people don’t even think about it anymore. There are a lot of people in Minnesota who don’t live in Lake Woebegone and bump into that perception on a daily basis. Pop culture is a distorted mirror. It doesn’t reflect all those who look upon it.”

If You Go

What
Wing Young Huie’s visit to MSU
When and Where
- Workshop: “Onbeing hyphenated: Exploring the Asian-American Experience,” 3-4:30 p.m., Centennial Student Union room 201
- Reception: Refreshments provided, 6-7 p.m., CSU room 253
- Lecture: “Calling Minnesota Home: Cultural Diversity Through the Lens of Wing Young Huie,” 7-8 p.m., CSU room 253.
Note
All events free and open to the public

Related Photos

  • Wing Young Huie Submitted

    Wing Young Huie 10-7 pic1.jpg

October 7, 2012

High resolution: Award-winning photographer visiting MSU

By Tanner Kent The Free Press

MANKATO — Wing Young Huie doesn’t do anything halfway. The award-winning Minneapolis photographer focuses almost exclusively on people and portraits. He has spent months, even years, earning the trust necessary to capture such personal and sometimes painfully intimate images. And his exhibitions are ambitiously conceived, often in public spaces and in grand scale.

In 1996, his “Frogtown” project was displayed in an abandoned parking lot in St. Paul’s diverse neighborhood of the same name. His next project, “Lake Street USA,” installed nearly 700 images in store windows, bus stops and on abandoned buildings along Lake Street in Minneapolis. His latest large-scale exhibit, “The University Avenue Project,” documented St. Paul’s diversity along one of its most major thoroughfares also by installing photographs in public spaces -- including a multimedia presentation on a billboard-sized screen.

The Duluth-born youngest son of Chinese immigrants will lecture on his cultural experiences as well as his photography during a pair of presentations on Wednesday at Minnesota State University.

“We’re excited to bring him here,” said Maya Hanson, the MSU senior whose project on Huie for Sachi Sekimoto’s communications disorders course prompted the visit. “His work is a perfect example of how art can be used as a way to make people think differently.”

Huie’s won numerous grants and awards while becoming a popular lecturer -- in part, because of his crossover success in China where his images of minorities, poverty and malaise counteract popular stereotypes of America. The Star Tribune recently referred to Huie as Minnesota’s “unofficial ambassador” to that country because of his now-frequent visits for art installations and cultural talks.

“I’m the only one of my siblings not born in China,” Huie said. “It took me a long time to realize my true ethnocentric self was white.”

For Sekimoto, MSU communications studies instructor, Huie’s visit is an important one for all students -- and especially Asian-American students -- because of the lack of attention given to what is often referred to as the “model” minority.  

“I do think Asian-American students get less attention” than other minority and immigrant students, Sekimoto said. “There is this perception that Asians assimilate better because they are smart or because they are very conforming.”

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