Good medicine...

Submitted byJeeraik009 onFri, 09/16/2011 - 14:31

 

Diaspora artist Albert Chong was present to answer questions at the opening of his exhibition at the Mutual Gallery in Kingston last night. The show offered a selection of the artist's most successful photographs and prints on canvas from years past, as well as new works on tile and an installation featuring a hand cart and palm leaves. Whereas Chong's earliest works were shot through with nostalgia and a longing for 'home', by including his most recent works that are photographic compositions on stone tiles, he showed how his ideals have become less sentimental, more earth-bound, radicalized and edgier. His use of the camera that was once focussed on the self, the intimate, and the personal, has set aside ego to consider a greater good, challenging what the artist considers 'the most pressing issues of our time.' Chong explained how recent works such as Hope Deferred (2011) shown here, reflect his interest in world affairs and America's two unpopular wars. His exhibition, almost retrospective in its selection, offers a glimpse into his life and thought in pictures that embrace both nostalgic idealism and a healthy dose of political realism.