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Artist Interview: Tam Tran

Sitter
Tam Tran, born 1986
Producer
National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution
Date
September 16, 2011
Type
Time-Based Media
Medium
Audio recording
Dimensions
Duration: 08 min., 38 sec.
Topic
Tam Tran: Female
Tam Tran: Visual Arts\Artist\Photographer
Portrait
Credit Line
National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution: Audio/Visual Special Collection
Restrictions & Rights
Usage conditions apply
Object number
AV.2011.NM.1
Description
Tam Tran discusses her work in "Portraiture Now: Asian American Portraits of Encounter." Her arresting photographs investigate identity and gender, and in this series of self-portraits, called Accents, she explores her ever-changing relationship to her own developing identity. Her self-portraits are not exercises in performance or character invention. She photographs herself against a white background, using clothing that she wears regularly--as well as pose, hairstyle, and makeup--to shift the viewer's perceptions of her own identity. Through these sometimes subtle, sometimes dramatic images, she focuses on her "battle to maintain balance in my two cultures." Recorded at NPG, September 16, 2011. Interview by Jasmine Fernandez, intern, Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Program. Image: Stripe Tease / Tam Tran / Digital print, 2009 / Collection of the artist / Copyright Tam Tran. Interview currently located on the National Portrait Gallery's iTunesU page.
Data Source
National Portrait Gallery
Location
Currently not on view