Visual Arts

What is imagination?
Is it fantasy? The virtual? The subjective?
What is reality?
Is it the present? The tangible? The objective?
Imagination and reality appear to be polar opposites but they are indeed intertwined. “There are infinite possibilities between reality and imagination. Imagination comes out of reality, and reality can be the result of imagination. Reality, as we know of, is largely based on the interaction among objective reality, society, and subjectivity. It is very much imagined reality resulting from social construction.”
”We tend to think that photography reflects reality, and that cameras mirror the objective reality. Subjectivity in cameras should not be underestimated. Regardless of how ‘realistic’ pictures are, they are nothing but imagined reality, resulting from a constant interaction between subjectivity and objectivity.”Professor Joseph Chan initiates and maintains dialogues with the world from his urges to illustrate the intricate relationships between imagination and reality.
This exhibition selects 24 photos from Professor Joseph Chan’s creative pool. It presents an imagined reality from three dimensions: nature, human, and society. The hazy autumn view through a car window, the chance encounters within and beyond picture frames, the cityscape as reflected on glass, and the calls for social actions in an ivory tower… It is a show of how such vivid imaginations of space, gender and actions make up our reality.
As imagination and reality are blending, temporal and spatial boundaries are blurring. They can be found any time anywhere. Yet it is when the shutter is pressed, a moment is caught and remembered.