Presence (2010-ongoing) by Minny Lee Sept 4 - 30, 2021 Photographer Zoom Q&A Sunday, Sept 12, 5:30pm Zoom ID 808 597 8733 Artist Statement Presence is a self-portrait series that intertwines personal memories to the history of a given place. By assuming the roles of both subject and photographer, each photograph becomes a negotiation between the real and surreal, visible and invisible, and internal and external. There is a performance aspect—where to place myself in the location; where to look; how to pose; and how to frame—that contemplates both the gaze of others and the gaze of myself. Some of the places in the photographs were used for military activities during World War II, such as Santa Maria delle Grazie, a 16th-century convent in Mestre, Italy, Hotel Bethlehem in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, and a disguised military village in Montauk, New York. Other places like Asbury Park in New Jersey endured economical and social changes in the region over many decades. There is no intent to tell exact stories. Rather, each photograph is an invitation to imagine untold and unseen stories from the viewer’s individual experience or notion of history.