Sophie Tianxin Chen, Etcetera















Ciao! Your name?
Sophie Tianxin Chen.
How old are you?
I’m 26.
Where are your from?
I am originally from China, but I have lived in a few different countries. Now I live and work in Los Angeles.
What is photography?
I can’t really answer the question, it is not something that I really think about. I know I am interested in images, not just photographs. An image for me is often a scene I witness or something formed in my mind. I give most of my attention to the image itself, the discourse around photography as a medium tends to bore me a little.
What is I, Etcetera about?
These images were made at the end of a long journey of becoming an American citizen. Spending so much time intentionally building a new identity was very strange and confusing, and it made me bitter. It’s really hard to tell you what I, Etcetera is about. The work was more of a reaction, from this space where I felt deformed by being squeezed and pulled by two opposing poles. I think it is about asking the audience to keep an open mind in order to effectively experience a narrative with seemingly aloof meaning. The work is easier to understand with tender empathy than formal logic.
Where can you be found online?
This is my site.
Keep looking...

FotoFirst — Lindley Warren Uses the Camera to Come to Terms with Her Family’s History

Hidden Kingdom — Stefan Bladh’s Cinematic Images Are Loaded with an Uncanny Atmosphere

Martin Lamberty Explores the Salton Sea, a Once-Popular Tourist Destination Now in Decline

FotoFirst — ‘Becoming a Specter’ is Daniel Coburn’s Very Personal Family Photo Album

They Are Not, Yet — Dimitri D’Ippolito Touches on How Italy’s Organized Crime Is Leveling Up

FotoFirst — Felix von der Osten Shares Delicate Photos from an Increasingly Polluted Bangalore

Wet Behind the Ears — Debbie Naylor’s Portraits Ponder on How Fast Kids Grow These Days
