KAYEE C | PERFECT BALANCE BETWEEN PHYSICAL CONSTRAINTS AND CREATIVE EXCITEMENT
Digital photography printed on Canson Baryta Prestige 340g
48 x 60 cm (unframed)
Reinterpreting Caravaggio’s “Salome with the Head of John the
Baptist” (1609), this photo explores family dynamics. Unhealthy
interactions within a family can result in attachment styles that
some individuals need decades to untangle before they can break through a cycle of pain.
Kayee C © All rights reserved.
Kayee C © All rights reserved.
Kayee is a fine art photographer born and raised in Hong Kong before relocating to France a decade ago.
She uses self-portrait and digital composite techniques to create storytelling images to explore the dynamics of relationships on different levels.
Her works can be a humorous, dramatic, or melancholic staging of a variety of human interactions.
Human relationships are her primary source of inspiration.
She builds up her inspiration reserve through her daily observations of human interactions and her own emotions.
Her favorite subject above all is the paradox between social disconnect and our desire to belong.
She attempts to offer a critical, offbeat, and sometimes poetic look at the way we relate to each other.
Digital photography printed on Canson Baryta Prestige 340g
40 x 60 cm (unframed)
Inspired by “The Taking of Christ” of Caravaggio, this photo
talks about the objectification of our image that is further
reinforced by ourselves when we accept criteria of beauty and
success sold to us via the manipulation of our insecurities.
Cruelty between us sometimes resides in the peer pressure to
comply with certain standards.
Kayee C © All rights reserved.
Digital photography printed on Canson Baryta Prestige 340g
48 x 60 cm (unframed)
Reinterpreting Caravaggio’s “Salome with the Head of John the
Baptist” (1607/1610), this photo explores family dynamics.
The way some toxic family members are harmful can be so
implied and hidden in seemingly trivial interactions. It can take
decades for an individual to even realize. And after years and
years of unhealthy attachment, a person may not even be able
to put a word on the form of abuse they have been
experiencing. Sometimes the deepest wounds in a family are
those that take no physical form at all.
Kayee C © All rights reserved.
Characters staged in her portraits range from complete strangers, friends, coworkers to family members, trapped in familiar settings from famous paintings, mysterious surroundings, or entirely surreal dimensions.
They often struggle to maintain a perfect balance between society’s roles and their primal desire to be themselves.
Out of phase with the pursuit of an appearance of cohesion, some cannot help but display marginal attitudes such as laziness, contempt, sadism, or disillusionment.
Kayee works solely alone. From hair, makeup, wardrobe, lighting, camera set-up, acting to retouch, she is a lone ranger.
This is her chosen way of working, allowing her flexible hours and deep focus. She sees technical obstacles while being alone on set as fuel to problem-solving.
Born partially deaf, she views her solitary way of working as a perfect balance between physical constraints and creative excitement.
Digital photography printed on Canson Baryta Prestige 340g
48 x 60 cm (unframed)
Inspired by “Dinner at Emmaus” of Caravaggio, this photo
depicts the deep desire of some of us to simply disengage from
forced interactions for the sake of creating an image of cohesion
and harmony.
Kayee C © All rights reserved.
Digital photography printed on Canson Baryta Prestige 340g 32.5 x 150 cm (unframed)
Inspired by “The Last Supper” by Leonardo da Vinci, this remake represents a group of individuals who attempt to communicate with no true intention of listening.
Kayee C © All rights reserved.
Kayee’s works can be seen as a whole narrative piece in which each element tells its own story.
Viewers should feel free to reorder them the way they wish in order to create their own narratives. Many of the photos were inspired by classical paintings, such as the two versions of “Salome with the Head of Saint John the Baptist” by Caravaggio and “Salvator Mundi” by Leonardo da Vinci.
Digital photography printed on Canson Baryta Prestige 340g
40 x 60 cm (unframed)
Inspired by “Salvator Mundi” of Leonardo da Vinci, this image
represents the inner violence one has to suppress while struggling between our primal desires and social expectations from the outside.
Kayee C © All rights reserved.
Digital photography printed on Canson Baryta Prestige 340g
40 x 60 cm (unframed)
Reinterpreting Caravaggio’s “The Martyrdom of Saint Ursula”
(1610), this photo is a cry for peace when we humans, as one
single species, hurt each other based on our differences while
we all could coexist with respect.
Created in October 2020, after a series of terrorist attacks in
France and in Austria.
Kayee C © All rights reserved.
Kayee practiced different art forms, including classical piano and theatre acting, before fully focusing on digital photography in 2015. She holds a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Hong Kong with first-class honors (2005).
