Ah Pa
“Ah Pa” means Dad in colloquial mandarin.
This series continues my investigation into spaces and how it impacts on relationships between people.
It is also an exploration and documentation of a riotous father and son relationship and a very intimate view into the on-goings of a Chinese family in Singapore.
This took me 4 years, capturing my father’s movements with my camera’s in-built flash and done concurrently with Bukit Batok Boys. I can only multi-task when it comes to photo projects. haha. I initially intended to start the project on much wider and ambitious scale, documenting the on-goings of my family. But finally decided to focus on my eccentric dad.
Shown here in this series is an off-shoot that I call the “Emulation” series. I am emphasizing the child-like emulation of adult behaviour. Don’t we all remember trying on our father’s shoe for size or wishing that one day you grow up to be just like him? A parent’s influence on a child is undeniable. This work is the exploration and reflection of this parent-child tie.
None were staged, dad just loves hamming it up for the camera and his son.
I have never been close to my father and we used to have super big fights all the time that resulted in shouting matches, slamming of doors and even the occasional shoving.
Through this documentation I came to realise that we had similar characteristics. It occurred to me that at the end of the day, many of my actions were a reflection of his. It was photography that allowed me to bridge the distance between me and my father. Beautiful thing it is. It gave us a chance to talk, to share, to question and to dig deeper into each other’s characters and discover the similarities between us that I never thought we would never have.
These photographs have given us an excuse to put down our awkwardness, our male egos and just connect as father and son.
This series continues my investigation into spaces and how it impacts on relationships between people.
It is also an exploration and documentation of a riotous father and son relationship and a very intimate view into the on-goings of a Chinese family in Singapore.
This took me 4 years, capturing my father’s movements with my camera’s in-built flash and done concurrently with Bukit Batok Boys. I can only multi-task when it comes to photo projects. haha. I initially intended to start the project on much wider and ambitious scale, documenting the on-goings of my family. But finally decided to focus on my eccentric dad.
Shown here in this series is an off-shoot that I call the “Emulation” series. I am emphasizing the child-like emulation of adult behaviour. Don’t we all remember trying on our father’s shoe for size or wishing that one day you grow up to be just like him? A parent’s influence on a child is undeniable. This work is the exploration and reflection of this parent-child tie.
None were staged, dad just loves hamming it up for the camera and his son.
I have never been close to my father and we used to have super big fights all the time that resulted in shouting matches, slamming of doors and even the occasional shoving.
Through this documentation I came to realise that we had similar characteristics. It occurred to me that at the end of the day, many of my actions were a reflection of his. It was photography that allowed me to bridge the distance between me and my father. Beautiful thing it is. It gave us a chance to talk, to share, to question and to dig deeper into each other’s characters and discover the similarities between us that I never thought we would never have.
These photographs have given us an excuse to put down our awkwardness, our male egos and just connect as father and son.
What mum wrote on Dad's back as a prank with permanent ink. Said marker is still on the table. Welcome to my world, where parents don't grow up.
Wrinkly and saggy
Wrinkly, saggy and itchy.
Wrinkly, saggy, chubby and thrifty.
wrinkly, saggy, kitschy and "cleavagy"
No its not my room, offensive Jay Chou poster belongs to my sister. Being from a conservative chinese family, hugs and "i love yous" are rarely traded. Shouting matches are more common. I think this was only the 2nd time I ever hugged my dad.
Dad goofing around and hamming it up for me as usual.
Them professing their love for one another. This is how we do it. Hugs are too old school.
A family that cam-whores together, stays together.
Daddy's bananas.
Dad's an installation artist.
tsk tsk.
That is how I got here. Got it all from dad.
Dad's an installation artist part 2.
Another one of his health scares.
